Yesterday's rally was organized by the PFP and Soong showed up ahead of schedule to join Ma on stage. He praised Ma, seen as the frontrunner for the pan-blue 2008 presidential nomination, as a "future star."
"We have three appeals -- we want economic development but not an incompetent government, we want justice but not corruption and we want peace but not independence," Soong told Ma, adding that the PFP and KMT should work together on these issues.
Ma responded by saying that each party should stop arguing over independence or unification and focus on economic development.
In his speech, Lien said that too many questions about the 2004 shooting remained unanswered and urged Hsieh to help reopen the investigation.
Ma also took aim at Chen's announcement of the scrapping of the unification council and guidelines. Ma said that he admired Chen's courage to scrap the council even though he could face a recall.
"But if he does have courage, why doesn't he say aloud whether the council exists or not?" Ma said.
"Taiwanese leaders should not say one thing to the public but another to the US," he said.
Ma also questioned why Chen included the council into his "five noes" pledge if the council was of no importance.
"Over the past two months, the fallout from the National Unification Council issue has blemished the image of the Republic of China and Chen's reputation," Ma said. "Taiwan's international credibility has been damaged."
Ma said that Chen meant to use the word "abolish" to scrap the council, but subtituted the word "cease" after pressure from the US.
"But who knows whether the council and the unification guidelines exist or not? I do not understand why no government official could make this clear?" Ma said.
"Why is Premier Su Tseng-chang's (
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