Soong says a president must truly care for the people

Independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday described himself as a president-to-be who truly cares about the people and who helps resolve their problems.

"The president we are going to elect doesn't necessarily have to be a great person, but he should be one who truly cares about the future of Taiwan and does things for the people," Soong said.

Soong said he traveled throughout Taiwan during his five-year term as Taiwan governor and highlighted a visit to Huayu (花嶼), an islet of the Penghu archipelago.

"In the entire village, not one of the households has its own toilet," Soong said. "There are still a lot of out-lying places around Taiwan that we need to take care of."

During his term as provincial governor, Soong said, he built roads in mountainous areas to help connect residents in remote villages to more populated areas.

One of these projects was the east-west freeway in southern Taiwan, which shortened the trip between downtown Tainan and Tsoumalai (走馬瀨) from two hours to 30 minutes.

"The president must truly understand the needs of the people at the grassroots level. Social welfare doesn't mean passing beautiful checks," Soong said.

In a criticism of KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), Soong said Lien had made brief visits to earthquake-hit Nantou County but left without having significantly improved the situation there.

Meanwhile, Soong said the nation's leader should be one who can make efficient use of limited resources and make policy feasible.

He also questioned the policy on the elderly proposed by DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), under which senior citizens will be paid a monthly stipend of NT$3,000 per person.

"This will cost hundreds of millions of NT dollars. Where will the money come from?" Soong asked.

On the welfare for the elderly, Soong proposed that people over 65 be entitled to free health insurance, and granted vouchers worth NT$3,000 at three major Chinese festivals.

"But wealthy seniors will be ruled out from getting the benefits," he said. "I'll take care of those who need help the most."

In his platform on national security, Soong said if elected, he would seek to promote negotiations with Beijing over issues ranging from Taiwanese businessmen investing in China to cross-strait smuggling of arms and drugs and entry into the WTO.

"I hope that the two sides will reach and sign agreements through negotiations on these issues.