Drop `one China' says candidate

A poll released yesterday that suggests a majority of people believed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could win the 2008 presidential election, but only if they discard an adherence to the "one China" policy, Taipei City Councilor and legislative candidate Lin Chin-chang (林晉章) said yesterday.

Lin vowed to form a "movement to abandon the one China policy alliance" in order for the KMT to win voter support.

"I have sent my campaign ideas to senior party members, such as KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and General Secretary Lin Fung-cheng (林豐正). So far, nobody told me not to do so," Lin said at a press conference yesterday.

The survey, conducted by the Taiwan Real Survey Company Ltd on Lin Chin-chang's behalf revealed that 20.74 percent of respondents said that they would vote for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates in the year-end legislative elections, 14.57 percent for KMT candidates, 5.12 percent for People First Party (PFP) candidates and 2.74 percent for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

The majority of those surveyed -- 44.03 percent -- still had not decided who they would support.

With regard to which party would win a majority of seats in the legislature in the December elections, 34.6 percent believed the DPP would prevail, while only 16.13 percent believed the KMT would do so. At 47.57 percent, the majority of respondents said they were still undecided.

On which party "loves Taiwan most," the DPP ranked the highest at 20.74 percent, followed by the KMT at 10.17 percent. The TSU ranked 4.63 percent and the PFP 2.15 percent in that category.

Asked whether the KMT should abandon the "one China" principle in order to win the 2008 presidential election, 39.5 percent of the respondents said yes, while 32.6 percent did not agree, while 27.9 percent declined to answer.

In addition, 49 percent of the interviewees believed the DPP's coming into power was directly linked to its adherence to a "Taiwan-centered consciousness," while 33 percent disagreed. Eighteen percent refused to answer.

With little over a month before the legislative elections, it is crucial that the KMT sway swing voters in their direction, Lin Ching-chang said. The key is convincing voters that the party is in line with mainstream public opinion, he said.

The "one China" policy supports the country's eventual reunification with China under the name the "Republic of China," he said.

He made news earlier this month when he mailed a package representing the "burden" of the policy to China and asked the KMT to abandon its adherence to it.

The candidate said survey results showed that about 40 percent of respondents believe that if the KMT drops the "one China" policy to focus on Taiwan, the party will be able to regain its position as the governing party.

Ironically, 35 percent of those who responded positively to the KMT's proposed policy shift claimed to be either TSU or DPP supporters, Taiwan Real Survey Co's general manager Kao Shih-yuan (高世垣) said at the press conference yesterday.

The survey also asked participants about their opinion on Taiwan's independence versus unification with China. Just over 17 percent said they support independence, while 5.4 said they favor unification.

The telephone survey was conducted from Oct. 11 to Oct. 12 from a random sampling of people nationwide. Results were based on the responses of 1,088 participants, with a 2.97 percent margin of error..