Soong lends PFP's support to joint presidential bid

Opposition PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said yesterday that his party is working with the KMT to field a joint ticket for the 2004 presidential election.

"We'll field a joint ticket and form a brand new ruling team," Soong said.

"We are working toward this common goal. But with a view to avoiding exerting pressure on any single person, the two parties are working separately at the moment. We are soliciting grassroots opinions and will integrate all those opinions at a later date," he said, adding that he will meet with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) at "an appropriate time."

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the opening of the PFP's chapter in the southernmost county of Pingtung, Soong said both he and Lien fully understand the expectations of the local people for a joint PFP-KMT ticket for the next presidential election.

"During a previous meeting we had in Taipei late last year, we reached a consensus on the formation of a brand new governing team to consolidate Taiwan's democratic system and forge engagement with mainland China," Soong said.

Soong, a maverick ex-KMT secretary-general, narrowly lost his presidential bid to Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the DPP in 2000, while Lien ended a distant third.

Soong declined to provide details of how the proposed joint PFP-KMT ticket will be crafted and claimed that the post of president "is not that important."

"We are not just aiming at taking power. Our ultimate goal is to organize a professional team to revitalize the island's sluggish economy, wipe out political corruption and establish clean politics," Soong claimed, adding that he hopes that the people will regard the PFP-KMT cooperation as the start of another "Taiwan miracle," not a return to the era of martial law.

The 107-year-old KMT ruled Taiwan with an iron fist for more than five decades until May 2000.

Despite losing the presidency, the KMT remains one of the world's wealthiest parties and has a well-established party apparatus .

In contrast, the PFP was founded shortly after the 2000 presidential election.

As part of its efforts to deepen its grassroots power base in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, the party has begun to transform its liaison offices in various counties and cities around the nation into party chapters to facilitate operations. The PFP Pingtung liaison office was the first to be transformed.