People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) said he supports Taiwan’s eventual unification with China because it is enshrined in the Constitution.
“I abide by the Republic of China’s Constitution,” Soong said in an interview with the BBC’s Chinese-language Web site.
Soong said both President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China policy of “no unification, no independence and no use of force” and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “moving toward separation” from China were unconstitutional.
Along with Ma and Tsai, Soong this week officially registered to run in the Jan. 14 presidential election.
Soong, who has maintained close exchanges with China in recent years, was asked by the BBC if he had notified Beijing before his decision to run in the presidential election.
He said that many political decisions by the PFP and himself have been the result of communications with “a lot of friends,” but that did not mean they are subject to anyone’s influence.
Asked if he has felt any pressure from China regarding his decision to run, Soong only said that “it would be too strong to describe it as pressure.”
He urged Chinese leaders to respect the choice of Taiwanese.
When asked whether he had reneged on his promise to withdraw from politics, he said that had been a personal decision, “not a legal commitment.”
Soong announced his withdrawal from politics after he suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2006 Taipei mayoral election, when he received only 4.14 percent of the votes, compared with the 53.81 percent earned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
He also said that his decision to leave politics resulted from the strong public support for Ma, and his hope to give Ma a chance to run for the 2008 presidential election.
However, Soong said after nearly four years in office, he could not tell what Ma had accomplished.
Soong said that he registered to run in the presidential election because he was painfully aware that Taiwan had fallen to the bottom of the “four Asian tigers,” and that Ma had not done what he should have done over the past four years.
Asked about the relatively small percentage of Taiwanese who said they would vote for him compared with Ma and Tsai’s support in public opinion polls, Soong said that the polls had not reflected the true will of the public.
He said that more than 30 percent of Taiwanese have yet to voice their support for one candidate or another, and the will of the people would be decided in the final stage of the election.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS