The Chinese-language Liberty Times said it will press a libel lawsuit against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after one of its members alleged the paper had filed a false report to defame the image of the pan-blue camp's presidential bid.
KMT Legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan (蔡正元) charged that the Liberty Times, sister paper to the Taipei Times, had distributed erroneous information to defame the image of the joint ticket of the KMT and the People First Party (PFP).
PHOTO: CHEN TSAN-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
The paper reported that Beijing had treated China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to luncheons in a bid to encourage them to support the Lien-Soong ticket.
Representatives of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople yesterday, however, had a mixed response to China's alleged attempt to influence the presidential election next year.
Sixty China-based associations for Taiwanese businessmen and 126 business representatives attended a conference co-hosed by the Cabinet and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to discuss cross-strait affairs.
Businessmen joining yesterday's conference were careful not to show their political stance and many said they had felt the mounting heat of next year's presidential election.
Prior to the conference, high-ranking Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials, including Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) top aide, and Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), had the businessmen to dinner Friday night.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who have teamed up to run in next year's election, are scheduled to treat the businessmen tomorrow.
"China-based Taiwanese businessmen, their families and employees possibly count for as many as 1.5 million votes. The parties are striving to grab a bigger portion of the big cake," said Ho Hsi-hao (何希灝), president of the Taiwanese Businessmen Association in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province.
Michael Sang (桑天佑), a senior official at Tianjin's Taiwan Investment Enterprises Association, said he could smell "the smoke of the next year's presidential election."
However, with the row between the KMT and the Liberty Times heating up, the businessmen appeared to remain neutral.
Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐), SEF secretary-general, said the businessmen hoped their roles were not politicized.
"Politicizing their roles would only increase their difficulties in doing business in China. Therefore, they have avoided mentioning which presidential candidate they support," Shi said.
Ho, however, said the fight between the KMT and the newspaper has labeled most China-based Taiwanese businessmen as supporters of the blue camp.
"The DPP government deliberately set up barriers preventing us from returning to Taiwan to vote in the election. We have called on the government to expand transportation opportunities for us to come home to vote," Ho said.
"The government thinks most China-based Taiwanese businessmen are pro-Lien-Soong. This is not exactly true," Ho added.
Ho flatly denied the newspaper's report that China had treated Taiwanese businesspeople in order to ask them to vote for the Lien-Soong alliance.
"We simply told China its strategies would not influence our political standing. China, on the other hand, is also very clear that its intervention in Taiwan's election would only create negative effects," Ho said.
Wu Ying-song (吳英頌), director of Yangzhou Taiwan Compatriots Investment Enterprises Association in Jiangsu Province, attested to Ho's statement that China's alleged intervention in Taiwan's election "did not exist."
"So far China has shown no sign of persuading us to vote for the Lien-Soong alliance. They have kept a low-profile," Wu said.
"We businessmen only want to make money. We don't want to talk about politics. We care about Taiwan's economic development and will vote for the party that shows the capacity to improve the country's economy," Wu said.
Ho Fang-wen (何芳文), president of Zhaoqing Taiwanese Businessmen Investment Enterprises Association in Guangdong, said China has said it does not matter whether they vote for the DPP or the Lien-Soong alliance.
"China only said it could neither accept the `state to state' nor the `one country on each side' theories," Ho Fang-wen said.
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