A Friday night meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) continued to spark intense speculation over the possible impact on Saturday's polls.
At the heart of the conjecturing was the possible "dump-save effect" among pan-blue supporters.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers continued to interpret the meeting as evidence of a scheme by Ma to "dump" KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and get Soong elected, which they said would benefit Ma for the 2008 presidential election.
"The Ma-Soong meeting proved that abandoning Hau and saving Soong has become the KMT's key strategy," DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.
DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that Ma could "kill two birds with one stone" by helping Soong win on Saturday -- to divide the DPP and to unite the pan-blue camp ahead of next year's legislative election and the presidential election the following year.
Hsu referred to the division within the DPP over Taipei mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) promise that he would quit the party and join in the campaign to force President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down should Soong beat him.
Since Taipei is largely seen as a pan-blue city, the DPP's interpretation was seen as a strategy to help Soong draw votes from front-runner Hau and boost Hsieh's chances.
However, an anonymous lawmaker said that KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
"As Soong remains far behind Hau in the polls, it's hard to believe the party would ask pan-blue supporters to dump Hau and save Soong. Ma will show the party is for Hau in the final week," he said.
KMT spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) would not comment directly on voting strategy but said that experience has shown that a front-runner will not be the one to be abandoned by supporters if a "dump-save tactic" is used.
The PFP also made every effort to refute interpretations of Friday's meeting by the DPP or by the KMT.
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
"Ma and Soong met on Oct. 14 and Nov. 3 to talk about forming an alliance between two parties after the election. The latest meeting [last Friday] was supposed to take place on Nov. 30. It also focused on the alliance," Chang said.
The lawmaker said that Ma and Soong had agreed that their two parties would coordinate before nominating candidates for next year's legislative elections.
"Soong didn't make offers to Ma in exchange for the KMT's support, as the DPP has claimed," he said.
The PFP also accused Hsieh of using "government intelligence agencies" to obtain the pictures of Ma and Soong's meeting site.
Hsieh denied the accusation and said he would quit politics if anyone could prove otherwise.
Later yesterday, Soong told a press conference that Friday's meeting had been Ma's idea.
"I felt the meeting was a `set-up,'" Soong said, referring to the rumors that the KMT's voting strategy was to encourage pan-blue supporters to vote for Hau.
Ma said yesterday that he didn't discuss Saturday's election at the Friday meeting, but he refused to reveal details of his conversation with Soong.
also see story:
Editorial: Ma blunder could cost Hau dear
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
’DISTORTION’: Beijing’s assertion that the US agreed with its position on Taiwan is a recurring tactic it uses to falsely reinforce its sovereignty claims, MOFA said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said Chinese state media deliberately distorted Taiwan’s sovereign status, following reports that US President Donald Trump agreed to uphold the “one China” policy in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi urged Trump to retreat from trade measures that roiled the global economy and cautioned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, a Chinese government summary of the call said. China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying that the US should handle the Taiwan issue cautiously and avoid the two countries being drawn into dangerous
RSS