The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to leave it to the nation’s newly elected leader to decide the direction that the nation should be heading in.
DPP Spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) made the remarks in response to Ma’s National Day address at which he said that any future president should continue to pursue a cross-strait policy based on the so-called “1992 consensus.”
“Taiwan is a democracy, and we will have a new national leader and a new legislature next year,” Wang said. “The nation’s future direction should be decided by the new consensus of public opinion [represented by the new president and the new legislature].”
On Ma’s remarks regarding his own purported achievements, Wang said he would rather not get too political on the nation’s birthday, “but we believe that society and the public are aware of how big the gap is between what he said and mainstream public opinion.”
Meanwhile, the New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said in a statement that Ma tried to talk up his “achievements” in the past seven years by giving a series of numbers.
“He only refers to numbers, not the public’s suffering,” the NPP statement said.
Ma’s list of domestic policy highlights failed to mention food safety scandals, environmental pollution and the issue of nuclear safety, the NPP statement said, adding that the average salary had also stagnated under Ma’s tenure.
The party also lashed out at Ma for his remarks on the success of his cross-strait policies. The NPP said that “compromise” in the face of China’s military threat — not “peace” and “prosperity” — was the true marker of Ma’s cross-strait policy, adding that his advocacy of the so-called “1992 consensus” has prevented progress in the normalization of Taiwan’s international status.
Additional reporting by By Abraham Gerber
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