Lien Chan talks up war scenario

The KMT attracted thousands of people yesterday for a parade through the streets of Taipei to campaign for their presidential candidate, Lien Chan. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰) warned young eligible male voters yesterday that if they voted for DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), they would end up wearing soldier's helmets instead of the popular knit caps Chen sells as election paraphernalia.

"Young people will go to the battlefield, wearing helmets rather than A-bian caps if they choose Chen as their president. If Chen wins the election it will bring disaster and war to the Taiwan Strait," Lien said.

The warning, issued during yesterday's third and final debate, was a verbal version of one of Lien's campaign advertisements. In the ad, young male voters are shown marching off to war while the characters reading "over 85 percent of 20- to 29-year-olds will go off to war if A-bian declares independence" roll across the screen.

According to government statistics, there are around 2 million male voters between 20 and 39 who are eligible for conscription, nearly one-fourth of all eligible male voters.

"Young people will go to the battlefield, wearing helmets rather than A-bian caps if they choose Chen as their president."

Lien Chan, the KMT's candidate for president

Lien also called on voters not to support independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), his other main rival, saying that "Soong will only bring chaos to the country since he and his camp like to gain power through creating disputes."

In yesterday's platform speech, Lien focused on national security issues, ranging from national defense to foreign diplomacy.

"If I become president, I will seek to adjust the national defense strategy from a passive defense to an active one. Self-defense should not be static, but dynamic," Lien said.

"An active defense should be established in three ways. First, we will upgrade our high-tech warfare capability, especially in electronic and information operations," he said.

"We will also enhance our anti-missile capability to counter the guided missile threat from China. The effort in this direction should focus on how to increase our early warning time and how to effectively intercept and destroy incoming missiles," he said. "The overall deterrent capability of the military should be reinforced as well."

At the same time, Lien highlighted the importance of a civilian-based defense. The idea has been adopted by the military after it was strongly recommended by Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (唐飛).

"To establish a civilian-based defense, the government should seek to combine and integrate the civilian and military manufacturing sectors to upgrade the country's high-tech warfare capability," Lien said.

"To attain that goal, the military can also transfer its logistics affairs and resources into the hands of civilian companies."

Discussing foreign diplomacy, Lien promised to continue making efforts to expand the country's space in the international community, introducing at the same time a new idea of inviting the civilian sector to join in its efforts.

"We should break the traditional barrier between the government and civilian sectors to invite civilians to do the tasks related to foreign diplomacy. We can seek help from competent people in fields such as agriculture and business," Lien said.

"In this way, foreign diplomacy and foreign trade can be combined to achieve synergy."