Chen plans to run on his record

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday defended the DPP's record on economic development, saying Taiwan's GDP growth last year compared favorably with that of other countries.

"Taiwan's GDP growth reached 3.54 percent, while Hong Kong, Singapore were all around 2 percent," Chen said at a luncheon with supporters.

"European countries such as Italy and German, as well as Japan, all saw less than 1 percent growth," he said.

"Although we are not satisfied with such a record and are seeking more efficient efforts to foster growth, we must realize that we did a better job than many other countries while the world suffered a global recession," Chen said.

He urged people to have confidence in the government, saying certain drags on the economy have been removed.

"The US-Iraq war is over and SARS is under control," he said. "Taiwan still has a stable economic foundation because all industries are working hard."

Chen urged the Legislative Yuan to pass the six financial laws in its extraordinary session next week to allow the government to accomplish financial reforms.

Chen made the remarks at the annual assembly of the Tainan County Fellowship Society in Taipei. More than 1,500 members of the association gathered to celebrate its anniversary and displayed strong support for Chen, who hails from Tainan County.

Chen appealed to members of the society to unite and firmly stand with him to accomplish reforms.

He said the media have ignored the DPP's achievements and that he will begin a cross-country tour in August to promote his government's accomplishments.

DPP Legislator Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌) said, "We realized that most of the media voiced negative comments on the Chen administration's performance because of their bias, such as their support for reunification as well as their members having been educated and promoted by the former KMT regime."

"With this in mind, the president plans to personally introduce the government's concrete achievements," Hong said.

Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) agreed to an interview on independent lawmaker Sisy Chen's (陳文茜) talk show. The program will air on the KMT-owned China Television Company on Tuesday night.

"The vice president is willing to directly communicate with opposition parties' supporters," an aide to Lu said.

Officials at DPP Central Headquarters said Chen has made gains to tie his pan-blue opponents, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), in opinion polls. The officials said Chen would do his best to get more support from young voters as well as Hakka residents.

"Most Hakka citizens have preferred to vote for pan-blue politicians and Chen suffered a disaster in the last presidential election in Hakka counties and cities in northern Taiwan," said Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟), head of the DPP's central survey center. "One reason is that the DPP overemphasized the importance of learning Taiwanese and ignored Hakka culture."

He said that since Chen Shui-bian was elected in 2000, the DPP government has realized most of his campaign promises in promoting Hakka rights.