President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign office yesterday crossed swords with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over the latter’s latest campaign slogan: “I am a Taiwanese (我是台灣人),” which follows two earlier slogans — “Taiwan NEXT” and “Taiwan, what do you want?”
Tsai said in a speech in Nantou County yesterday that if elected, she will “ensure people feel proud about being Taiwanese.”
Tsai said that the willingness to identify oneself as Taiwanese in public, with pride, is a symbol of Taiwan’s democratic values and social progress.
“When we are overseas, we should be able to say: ‘I am Taiwanese’ out loud,” Tsai said, adding that if the DPP regains power next year, she will devote more resources to enhancing Taiwan’s recognition in the international community.
At a campaign event in New Taipei City (新北市) on Friday, Tsai accused the Ma administration of undermining the nation’s sovereignty and identity, and said that the government “made it difficult for people in Taiwan to be Taiwanese.”
“It also seems that President Ma finds it difficult to say the word ‘Taiwanese’ out loud,” she said.
In response, Ma’s campaign office yesterday accused Tsai of seeking to make ethnicity a campaign issue and urged the DPP to abandon what it called “an old election tactic.”
Ma’s campaign office spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) accused Tsai of resorting to “Taiwanese rhetoric,” a tactic that he said had been a favorite of the DPP since the campaigns of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and one that would be rejected by the public.
“People who grow up and live in Taiwan, regardless of their political affiliations, are all Taiwanese, and being Taiwanese is a natural thing. Which part of being Taiwanese is so difficult?” he said.
Taiwanese identity is not the property of the DPP, Yin said. It is a social reality shared by people in Taiwan, he added
On Tsai’s promise to gain more respect for Taiwan as a member of the international community and raise Taiwanese people’s sense of dignity, Yin defended Ma’s efforts to safeguard the nation’s dignity and the sovereignty of the Republic of China on the international stage by citing the nation’s participation in the WHO and the increasing number of countries granting Taiwanese visa-waiver status.
Compared with the Ma administration’s achievements in raising the nation’s international profile, he said Tsai, a former vice premier, participated in six WHO-related activities under the name “Taiwan, China,” Yin said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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