DPP officials yesterday blamed Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for sabotaging the nation's ethnic harmony by associating President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) remarks with ethnic divisions.
The officials said Chen's remarks were never intended to exploit ethnic tension during the election campaign.
They said they believe that Ma deliberately linked the "Hong Kong foot" comment to differences between Taiwanese and mainlanders as part of his campaign strategy.
"We regret Mayor Ma has distorted the president's statements. What Chen meant was that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, and the `one country, two systems' model adopted in Hong Kong is not acceptable for Taiwan," DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said.
"The comments simply sought to uphold Taiwan's independent status, they had nothing to do with ethnic issues."
The DPP and the pan-blue camp have been embroiled in a political row since Sunday when Chen was stumping for Lee Ying-yuan (
In Chinese slang, athlete's foot is called xianggang jiao, or Hong Kong foot.
"Lee does not have Hong Kong foot, so he will not go down the Hong Kong path," Chen said. "For all his life, Lee has used his Taiwan feet to walk down Taiwan's road."
Lee was jailed for nine months after he was arrested on Sept. 2, 1992 for his advocacy for Taiwan's independence.
Ma accused the president on Monday of undermining social harmony and violating a gentleman's agreement to avoid mudslinging during the campaign.
Recalling the mayoral election four years ago when he narrowly beat Chen, then the DPP candidate, Ma indicated voters had made their attitude very clear that they detested any attack on a candidate's ethnic background.
Back then, the DPP labeled Ma as "a puppet for Taiwan's traitors."
A group of pan-blue Taipei City councilors yesterday also came out to throw their support behind Ma, condemning the president for jeopardizing social order.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Michael You (游盈隆) responded to the attacks by saying that it is not the DPP, but Ma who attempted to capitalize on ethnic tensions.
You said Chen's remarks merely referred to the president's statements last month that "Taiwan should walk down its own road."
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