Chen's jibe about Mayor Ma's feet raising hackles

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sparked a political row over the weekend by joking that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has athlete's foot.

Chen made the comment while stumping for Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), 49, who is running against Ma in the December mayoral election.

Yesterday, an indignant Ma fired back that the president's remark threatened to tear apart Taiwan's social harmony. He also accused the president of violating a gentlemen's agreement to avoid mudslinging and insults.

``I never thought that this agreement would be broken so early in the campaign, and the one breaking it is our nation's leader,'' Ma told reporters.

Why the sensitivity?

Much of it has to do with Chen's choice of words. In Chinese slang, athlete's foot is called Xianggang jiao (香港腳) or "Hong Kong foot."

Ma, 52, is touchy about the term because he was born in Hong Kong, and he said he was worried that the president might be questioning his loyalty to Taiwan.

"I'm not sure if he's hinting that I was born in Hong Kong and not in Taiwan," said the mayor.

The Taipei mayor and his family were among the 2 million people who fled to Taiwan with the KMT.

Many native Taiwanese still suspect that the mainlanders are more loyal to China and might eventually try to sell out Taiwan's interests in a unification deal with Beijing.

"Lee Ying-yuan uses his Taiwan feet to walk down Taiwan's road," said Chen.

"Because it's very clear Lee Ying-yuan doesn't have Hong Kong feet, he won't use Hong Kong feet to walk down a Hong Kong road."

Many Taiwanese look down on Hong Kong, viewing the former British colony to be a puppet of China. The territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a model called "one country, two systems."

China is pressuring Taiwan to accept the same model, designed to provide a wide degree of autonomy. But most Taiwanese oppose being ruled by Beijing as long as the Communist Party is in control and China is undemocratic.

At first, Ma, an avid jogger, laughed off Chen's comment.

"Hey, how did the president know that I have Hong Kong foot?" Ma joked on Sunday, adding that during a recent exam his doctor noticed a bit of the fungus between his toes, the mass-market China Times reported.

But by yesterday, Ma became more serious. Ma said that questions about mainlander loyalties were part of that election debate "but Taipei residents clearly expressed their attitude," he said.

Ma added, "For the sake of Taiwan's future, I think politicians, especially the country's leader, should avoid this ethnic issue."