Unification unacceptable at this point, says Soong

Independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) was kept busy yesterday, both meeting with US officials and deflecting allegations concerning the financial dealings of his family.

Meeting with Soong yesterday, AIT chairman Richard Bush reportedly said the US administration would abide by the Taiwan Relations Act, and provide Taiwan with appropriate defense capability.

The meeting was the first of several visits that Bush will be paying Taiwan's presidential candidates.

After a breakfast meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Chien-jen (程建人), Bush went to Soong's campaign headquarters on Taipei's Jenai Road.

Bush made no remarks after the meeting, preferring to save them until the end of his visit.

Soong told reporters he had explained to Bush that Taiwanese find unification unacceptable at this point, and that any change in the status quo should be in accordance with the will of the people of Taiwan.

When asked about president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) two-states model, Soong said: "The Republic of China is an independent sovereignty," and not a local government of the People's Republic of China.

On the same day, KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) questioned Soong's financial integrity, saying Soong's son has more than NT$140 million in his security transactions account at the First Commercial Bank.

Yang said Soong Chen-yuan (宋鎮遠), now 32, opened the account in 1991, with an initial investment of NT$14 million, when he was still an army conscript.

Yang questioned whether Soong had given his son the money for investment, and if so, whether he had paid any gift tax.

In response, Soong challenged Yang to come up with concrete evidence of any alleged illegal transactions.