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Hsieh returns to campaign trail, proposes debate

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) came out fighting yesterday after a 13-day absence from the campaign trail, challenging his rival to a debate on the issue of the nation's territory and title.

Hsieh invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to discuss whether the nation should apply for UN membership under the nation's official title -- the Republic of China (ROC) -- or Taiwan.

Both the DPP and the KMT have been collecting signatures in support of their respective referendum proposals on seeking UN membership to be held together with next year's presidential election on March 22.

The DPP referendum would ask the nation whether the government should apply to join the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT version would ask whether it should apply for a return to the UN in the name of the ROC or any other "practical" title.

At Hsieh's press conference, held to declare that he was back on the campaign trail, he suggested that the referendum proposal that draws the least amount of support from the public in a debate should be withdrawn.

Hsieh called for a public debate on the UN issue with Ma to let the public hear the argument behind each proposal and to gauge public opinion on them.

A debate would make clear his and Ma's views about "how the world sees Taiwan" and how the nation can secure its spot in the international community, Hsieh said.

Presidential candidates have a duty to discuss key issues openly before an election.

Hsieh said, however, that the debate would be meaningful only if he and Ma had some degree of consensus on the nation's territory and the point of holding a referendum.

Hsieh called on Ma to answer two questions: Whether his definition of the ROC today and the ROC before 1971 were the same, and whether Ma saw the referendum as part of efforts to join the UN or as a campaign tool.

"Logically speaking, it's fine to call for the return of the ROC to the UN, but in practice that would only be possible if the People's Republic of China [PRC] withdrew," Hsieh said, referring to the fact that the PRC became the representative of China at the UN in 1971.

Speaking about his health, Hsieh, who entered the press conference using a crutch, said he sprained his ankle on Sept. 27 and caught a bad cold on Sept 30.

Meanwhile, Hsieh responded to Ma's recent proposals for the economy, tourism and the healthcare industry by saying that the duties of the president were above all national defense, diplomacy and cross-strait policy.

In response, Ma yesterday expressed disappointment over Hsieh's invitation to debate the UN membership issue, saying Hsieh should discuss the economy instead.

"If you follow Hsieh's logic, the issue of the national title is more important than the economy," Ma said yesterday in a statement.

Ma quoted former US president Bill Clinton's campaign slogan -- "It's the economy, stupid!" -- and urged Hsieh to focus his attention on the economy.

"My long-stay experiences around the country have helped me realize that people are concerned about their livelihoods, not the national title," Ma said.

"The DPP has been the ruling party for almost eight years. If he wants to have a debate, the topic should be livelihoods and the economy," he said.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih

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