Soong plays the `peacemaker'

Independent presidential hopeful James Soong (宋楚瑜) lambasted the KMT's cross-strait policy at a campaign rally in Taipei last night. He said the KMT's policy was too provocative and that he was the peacemaker striving for stability in cross-strait relations

Soong accused President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) of damaging Taiwan's international standing with his July 9 "state-to-state" declaration and of reducing Taiwan to a "troublemaker" in the eyes of the international media.

"Since Lee's statement, international media such as CNN has depicted Taiwan as one of the most conflict-prone areas in the world. That's not what we want. We want respected peace," Soong said to a crowd of an estimated 30,000 supporters.

"People in Taiwan want peace, and I am proposing 30 to 50 years of peace with the mainland," he said.

In unveiling his cross-strait policy last week, Soong outlined a 50-year peace program for dealing with China.

He proposed that Taiwan and China sign a 30-year "mutual non-aggression peace treaty" with the US, Japan and members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as witnesses.

An optional 20-year agreement based on a European Union model, where parties are defined as sovereign states, would be placed on the table if no progress towards resolving the reunification issue has been made by the end of the first accord.

After this, Soong said that it would be up to the people in Taiwan to decide whether to continue the integration process.

In positioning himself as the only viable peacemaker, Soong characterized the both the KMT and DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (3?糮?/CHINESE>) as "agents provocateurs."

Soong said maintaining Taiwan's security should not cause it to be viewed as a troublemaker in the international arena.

He also criticized Chen's apparent softened stand on Taiwan independence as "swaying" and mocked the party's cross-strait policy.

"It's best to keep a distance [from the DPP] to ensure safety," said Soong.

Chen has also called himself the only candidate with the ability to break the ice with China. "I am the only one trusted by the Taiwanese people when negotiating with China," he said previously.

Soong promoted his policy as the one that would "normalize" relations with Beijing and outlined his "three-no's" in cross-strait policy.

"I say no to `one country, two systems,' no to `Taiwan is a part of China,' and no to war across the Strait," he said.

The rally is the first large-scale campaign activity held since the financial scandal involving Soong broke in December. The rally was to celebrate Soong's successful drive to collect enough signatures to allow his name to be included in the March presidential election. Soong's team said that over 1.6 million signatures were gathered, which is more than the required 224,000.

Soong's campaign team said the rally at the Chungshan Soccer Stadium (???s足2y3?/CHINESE>) yesterday was also meant to boost the morale among his supporters.

Soong has been mired in a scandal concerning the origin of hundreds of million of NT dollars paid into relatives' accounts at the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corporation (???2憎?/CHINESE>).

The scandal has tainted Soong's image and dragged down his ratings in the polls.

Meanwhile, Chen Shui-bian also held a campaign rally in Kaoshiung. He challenged Vice President Lien Chan (3s戰), the KMT presidential candidate, to take on political reforms as Lien promised last week.