Vote for Taiwan
Your editorial is right on (“It’s up to Taiwanese to decide,” Jan. 7, page 8). The elections on Saturday are so critical that their results will decide whether the young democracy in Taiwan will survive or not.
It is not a smart move to use several tycoons to speak out in support of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election bid. They are likely forced to speak out for Ma. Besides, Taiwanese are familiar with the famous saying that “businesspeople do not have a motherland.” They speak for the profits of their businesses rather than for the benefits of Taiwan. Their investments in China have helped the Chinese economy boom and created jobs mostly for Chinese instead of Taiwanese.
If Ma is re-elected, he will forcefully impose the so-called “1992 consensus” and actively carry out his pledge of “eventual unification” in his second and final term. Ma wants to be a Chinese hero who would enable China to annex Taiwan “peacefully” after Taiwan was ceded permanently to Japan in 1895. He also wants to win a Nobel Peace Prize and move to the US to join his two daughters.
If People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) is elected, he will also implement his pledge of “eventual unification” like Ma.
Both Soong and Ma happen to be Mainlanders who fled to Taiwan from the communists, but want Taiwanese to join communists.
If Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is elected and her party controls the legislature, she will implement her pledge of a “Taiwan consensus” so that Taiwanese have the right to decide Taipei’s relations with China. Her pledge agrees with the principle of self-determination in the UN Charter.
The economy and jobs are her priorities. She will provide equal economic and political opportunities to all Taiwanese, irrespective of race, sex, age and handicap.
The right choice from the viewpoint of Taiwanese is to vote for Tsai and her party. Taiwanese, it’s your turn to make this right choice for yourselves and Taiwan!
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
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