Soong aims for 60 seats in legislative elections

Opposition People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said in an interview with the Asian Wall Street Journal published yesterday that each of the three main political parties in Taiwan aims to win at least 60 seats in the year-end legislative elections.

In the interview, published yesterday, Soong said that if his party were to win more than 60 seats in the 225-member legislature in December, it would be considered by the party to be a major victory.

He speculated that no single major party is likely to win as many as 85 to 90 seats, and that no party is likely to fall below less than 40.

Regarding ongoing talks of cooperation between the PFP and the main opposition KMT in the election, Soong said that the two parties have certain overlapping interests and share the same belief in a 1992 consensus with Beijing that there is only "one China" but each side is free to interpret "one China" in its own way.

Regarding the policies of the new administration of US President George W. Bush toward Taiwan and China, Soong said that he believes the Bush administration is friendlier toward Taiwan than was the Clinton administration.

However, he urged the US to focus not only on helping to enhance Taiwan's defenses through arms sales but also on helping to encourage China to come to the negotiating table.

He also warned that China might use the Taiwan issue to distract its people from its own internal economic problems, adding that a framework to preserve peace in the Taiwan Strait should be created.