Ma doesn't need Soong's campaign support: analysts

Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) reluctance to invite PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to stump for him is a reflection of Ma's commanding position in the campaign, political observers said yesterday.

Soong has voiced his support for the KMT's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate, Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英), and stumped for him yesterday. But with two days to go before the election, he has done nothing for Ma in Taipei.

Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), Ma's senior aide, yesterday said that the KMT had no plans to invite figures from other parties to campaign for Ma as the KMT has enough influential speakers.

He said that the Taipei mayoral race was a local-government election and that it was not necessary to make it a national event.

"We want the focus of the campaign to be on affairs related to city development only. But if we invite figures from other parties, the campaign could easily become a forum for criticism of the current political situation," Wu said.

PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) said yesterday that Soong had been willing to campaign for Ma.

"It's not that Soong doesn't want to stump for Ma, it's Ma who declined to participate in the campaign we arranged for him due to a busy schedule," Hsieh said.

"We had invited Ma to join a campaign rally on Dec. 5, but Ma apparently has his reasons to decline, [especially] as he has to avoid campaigning for the PFP's councilor candidates," Hsieh said.

But Hu Chung-hsin (胡忠信), who hosts a news commentary show on television, agreed that Ma had to be careful about how his campaign would affect his party's councilor candidates.

"There have been conflicts of interest between Ma and Soong," Hu said.

Ma, a key campaigner for KMT city councilor candidates, has avoided stumping for the PFP's candidates, Hu said.

"Moreover, Ma's constant high popularity ratings mean Soong does not need to give him an extra push. Ma can stand on his own," Hu said.

"It is in Soong's interests to help the KMT's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang, as it increases the momentum of the pan-blue camp's cooperation that Soong needs for the upcoming 2004 presidential election.

"For Soong, lending his support to Ma would be like giving additional splendor to Ma's already good chances of winning, whereas giving his all-out support to Huang in Kaohsiung is like offering charcoal in cold weather," Hu said.

Chin Heng-wei (金恆偉), a political observer and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, also noted the conflicts of interests between the two.

"Ma Ying-jeou now is the KMT's No. 1 man. He doesn't need Soong's help campaigning. On the contrary, it would be as if Soong was stealing Ma's thunder if they appeared on the same campaign stage," Chin said.

Commenting on the sensitive relations between Ma and Soong, Chin played down possible competition between them at the next presidential election, saying that a Ma-versus-Soong confrontation would doom the pan-blue camp's chances of winning.

"It is difficult enough for a match-up of Soong and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to represent the pan-blue camp. A fight between Ma and Soong would just further split the pan-blue camp," Chin said.