Taipei Times: Besides being the deputy head of the campaign team, you are also responsible for electioneering in southern Taiwan and securing votes in the seven cities and counties governed by the DPP -- which is the DPP's traditional stronghold -- do you have a concrete target?
Frank Hsieh (
In fact, if we count the followers of [former president] Lee [Teng-hui (李登輝)] who voted for [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman] Lien Chan (連戰) last time, they are about 3 percent in the south, so that means we'd better try to develop 7 percent more of the votes in every city and county.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
TT: Why would you say the pan-blue camp is losing support, and what are the problems with the Lien and People First Party Chairman] James Soong's (
Hsieh: The Lien-Soong ticket has made a few serious strategic mistakes during the past six months: When they succeeded in their merger in March and announced the Lien-Soong ticket in April, they had a lead of more than 20 percent over President Chen. Back then, if it had been up to me, I would have intensified my attack and opened up the gap. Even if I could not open up the gap, at least I would have tried to take control of the campaign tempo.
However, the pan-blue camp adopted a cool-off strategy, thinking it best to stop the campaign. They thought as long as the public woke up on election day and cast their votes, they would win the election.
But the election campaign does not work like that -- the public's opinion and electioneering are constantly changing. The pan-blue inaction has allowed President A-bian to lead the campaign issues, turn the table around and equalize with the pan-blue camp.
Now the tables have been turned, and the pan-green camp is rising while the pan-blue camp is falling.
The pan-blue camp's second mistake was thinking that they could thrash the governing party by going back to economic issues. But the stock market and real estate prices have rebounded, the economic indexes are rising, and international organizations have commended our performance.
The pan-blue camp lost the focal point in its attack, and James Soong started to say: "Taiwan is indeed promoting `one country on each side [of the Taiwan Strait],' -- the poor on one side and the rich on the other." So of course we asked them in return: "Is Lien Chan a rich man or a poor man?"
Our polls have shown that only 6 percent of people in Taiwan believe that Lien is poor.
In the past three days the pan-blue camp must have been very confused about why they are still slowly losing support while A-bian is gaining support after they established their campaign headquarters and bought TV time slots to promote their platforms, while A-bian was feeling the impact from [US President George W.] Bush's talk after his meeting with [China's Premier] Wen [Jiabao (
We know the reason, but the pan-blue camp cannot figure it out. I cannot disclose the reason now, though.
TT: Is it because Bush and Wen's actions implied the US and China were suppressing Taiwan together and it helped consolidate solidarity among Taiwanese, or are there other reasons?
Hsieh: This was indeed one reason. Taiwanese do not like suppression, and the harder the external suppression, the more extensive internal resistance grows. But this is not the main reason why pan-blue support keeps slipping. I cannot reveal the reason right now.
TT: I heard rumors from within the DPP that during the last phase of the campaign the DPP would still adopt a comprehensive attack strategy, and that the DPP would also have some information regarding the opponents' scandals. Who do you think the DPP should target?
Hsieh: I have heard in campaign meetings that the DPP has some information, but my opinion would be that a negative campaign has to be initiated on a self-defense basis to be justified.
I think the DPP should encourage its opponents to debate on public policies, especially going to cities and counties to hold the debates.
With that we can directly accuse the pan-blue camp of obstructing us in the legislature, and use concrete examples to show the differences in Lien and A-bian's efforts to garner grassroots support.
For example, the central government's subsidy for various construction programs in Kaohsiung City has been blocked 45 times. Also Lien and Soong went overseas more times than they came to Kaohsiung, and how are they going to persuade Kaohsiung people to support them?
TT: Are you saying that Chen would definitely go ahead with a `defensive referendum' on election day?
Hsieh: The president apparently has his mind set on targeting China as his opponent, but with the current situation there is no space for the DPP to back down. We have to stand firm against that pressure and call out to Taiwanese people to argue with the US with our collective will.
TT: You are considered to be a likely candidate to take over from Chen if he wins again and finishes his second term. What do you think of that and what is your plan for the future?
Hsieh: Honestly, I do not have a plan for what's going to happen in four years, because politics and world affairs are not things we can predict. I don't mind people and the media talking about these issues, but my philosophy still remains that I would only pick up the food with elegance if the dish is finally placed in front of me.
I am quite happy as it is, and 2008 is still far in the future, and it's still possible that death's scythe would fall upon me before 2008.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods