Report casts doubt on Ma's candidacy

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) presumed presidential candidacy in 2008 was at the center of intense speculation yesterday, after a newspaper reported he was preparing to give up on the bid.

The Chinese-language daily China Times quoted an unnamed KMT official yesterday as saying that Ma would give up running in the presidential election next year if he were to be indicted for misuse of his mayoral special allowance.

Instead, the report said, Ma would postpone his presidential aspirations until 2012.

Ma -- who, although considered a shoo-in for the KMT candidacy, has not announced whether he will seek the nomination -- yesterday dismissed the report.

Hypothetical

"I've have made no such statement so far. The mayoral special allowance case is still under investigation. Any reports on the matter are based on hypothetical assumptions," Ma said yesterday while meeting with party members in Nantou County.

According to the China Times story, Ma would resign as party chairman and give up running for president if he was indicted over the special allowance.

The paper provided no sources.

Nevertheless, the local media seized on the report, seeking input and commentary from a wide range of politicians.

Speaking at an event held by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was asked for his response to the report.

"How am I supposed to know?" Chen said when asked whether the rumor was true.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who many consider a likely contender for the KMT's presidential nomination, was also cornered at the event.

"I wouldn't know anything about that," Wang kept repeating, as reporters tried to put the question about whether Ma would give up running in 2008 several different ways.

"I will always tell you that I know nothing about that," Wang said.

Then -- like the seasoned politician that he is -- he left himself some wriggle room, adding: "As [the issue] is still developing, there has been no conclusion yet."

One reporter asked Wang to respond to a question -- which was actually a statement -- that the KMT had pinned its hopes on him if Ma were indicted on corruption charges.

"Is that so?" Wang nonchalantly replied.

But not everyone was ready to write the report off as idle gossip.

Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said that he thought the rumor was spread on purpose by Ma's assistants.

Sympathy vote?

"[The Ma camp] gave that information to the media in an effort to garner sympathy from the public," Chen Chin-jun said. "It's out of the question that Ma would give up running in the 2008 presidential election. Ma had said more than 200 times that he wouldn't participate in the Taipei mayoral election."

Some KMT members also took the report to heart and urged Ma not to quit running for president next year, KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said. He added that although Ma might be concerned about the result of the investigation into how he handled his special allowance, it was still too early to make a decision before the investigation was completed.

KMT Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday also attacked the report, saying that Ma had not declared his intentions.

"Chairman Ma hasn't declared that he would join the 2008 presidential election, and the KMT's candidate has not been determined yet," he said yesterday in Nantou, urging the public to focus more on the country's future.