Taiwan's political temperature rose several degrees yesterday as the KMT and DPP traded fierce accusations and insinuations of unfair play in the runup to Saturday's vote.
While campaigning in Miaoli last night, DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian claimed that the KMT had dispatched senior officials to Beijing to ask authorities there for quick military action -- possibly military exercises near Taiwan -- in order to influence the election.
The KMT is "conspiring with outside forces against their own people," he said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen provided no evidence to back up his claims, however, and the KMT's official spokesman immediately dismissed them as "unfounded slander" and "empty talk."
"Now that the campaign has entered into its final stage, the opposition is spreading rumors about the KMT," Huang said.
Huang said voters would surely make a "rational deci-sion," adding the KMT would never contemplate such a thing.
Earlier in the day, the election seemed to be degenerating into a name-dropping competition as the KMT tried to overtake the DPP in projecting itself as the party favored by Taiwan's social and business elite -- while at the same time repudiating claims that Chen Shui-bian was the natural choice to continue President Lee Teng-hui's (
President Lee himself denied that there was anything resembling a "Lee Teng-hui path" for Taiwan, insisting there was only the road of freedom and democracy.
"In fact, the so-called `such-and-such's line' can only emerge from an authoritarian regime, such as the `Mao Zedong (
The president's comments came as a response to statements made the previous day by one of this closest friends, Chi Mei President Hsu Wen-lung (
Lee was speaking to more than 200 representatives from the International Youth Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club who visited the Presidential Office yesterday.
The president said he firmly disagreed with "certain people" when they talked at length about the so-called "Lee Teng-hui path."
"I must reiterate that I am against concocting such a groundless and authoritarian slogan," Lee said. "It is not only inconsistent with Taiwan's interests, but also meaningless."
Hsu, the founder of Chi Mei Corp -- the biggest ABS supplier in the world -- is well known for his management skills, a passion for art and a devotion to Taiwan independence.
As a confidant of the president's, Hsu's endorsement of Chen is widely believed to have negatively affected Lien Chan's (
The KMT candidate struck back yesterday with a list of his own, however, containing the names of 100 prominent figures in business and academic circles.
They include Koo Chen-fu (
None appeared at Lien's press conference yesterday, and speculation centered on the fact that some of the names on the list had already endorsed the DPP's Chen.
They included Lin Hsin-yi (
Chen was also struggling to attract an audience to his press conference yesterday, this one with members of foreign securities houses. After Monday's 600-point drop in the TAIEX, the DPP candidate was at pains to reassure foreign investors that he would be a safe bet after the election as far as economic policy was concerned.
But several members of Taiwan's foreign broking community apparently were scared off by the sight of reporters at the venue where the meeting was to be held.
To those that did attend, Chen pledged that he would accelerate the process of internationalization of Taiwan's financial markets if he is elected president.
"Politics is temporary but the economy is forever," Chen said, adding that as an island, Taiwan's national security could be secured only when its economy is fully liberalized and globalized.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS