DPP says Tuntex fugitive dances to Beijing's tune

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused former Tuntex chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) of being a tool of China to sway the presidential election after it said Chen used a PRC passport to enter the US.

DPP campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said yesterday that Chen entered the US last month on a PRC passport with an E2 visa, which is used for commercial visits and is valid for two years.

"This is hard evidence that Chen is indeed a tool of China to sway the election," Wu said.

Wu said that China has long tried to help nurture a pro-Beijing political power in Taiwan and to achieve that, it has used all possible means to influence the results of Taiwan's presidential elections.

Wu said China failed in 1996 and 2000 to defeat the presidential candidates it disliked through military exercises and intimidating rhetoric. In this year's election, he said, China has used various methods to try to prevent President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election.

First, Wu said, China has allowed the pan-blue Taiwanese businesspeople in that country to publicly campaign for the pan-blue presidential ticket. It has also helped with the mobilization of Taiwanese businesspeople to return home to vote for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).

Second, he said, China has labeled Chen a "separatist" for trying to undermine its "one China" principle by holding a referendum.

Third, he said, it has used such threatening rhetoric as "the referendum will lead to a war across the Taiwan Strait" and "China's ballistic missiles are no threat to Taiwan."

Fourth, Wu said, China has tried to use the reports of the arrests of alleged Taiwanese spies and accusations made by Chen Yu-hao to attack the president.