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Ma's cross-strait comments are `nonsense': Lee

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) recent rhetoric on cross-strait relations.

Lee said it was evident that the KMT was leaning toward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the KMT had never recognized Taiwan even though it has been settled here for almost six decades.

"Ma's recent comments are simply nonsense. I wonder how he earned his doctor of juridical science," Lee said in a speech delivered at a seminar hosted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

The seminar was held to discuss ideas for a new version of the Constitution and revision of the Referendum Law (公投法).

"Recently, [Ma] not only fawned over Chinese President Hu Jintao [胡錦濤] but also welcomed Chinese to enter the KMT. It seems that Ma is in favor of collaboration between the KMT and the CCP," Lee said.

In his speech, Lee said Ma's remarks showed that he thinks only about China, not Taiwan, and that the KMT has been treating Taiwan as "a place far from home," even though it has been here for nearly 60 years.

As the new legislative session starts today, Lee said he harbored great hope for the TSU as a small but influential party, and asked members to work on legislation that can ensure Taiwan's genuine "legal status."

"Finding ways to make the international community recognize Taiwan's legal status and accept the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign nation will be a key job the TSU should undertake this year," Lee said. "Whether Taiwan can enter the United Nations will not affect Taiwan's legal status."

"The TSU will propose a new version of a new Constitution in August," Lee added.

Before giving his speech, Lee and the TSU's hopeful for the Taipei mayoral race, political talk show host Clara Chou (周玉蔻), had a short meeting.

When asked his opinion of Chou as the two walked out of the meeting room, Lee said, "I strongly recommend Chou and encourage her to go for it."

At the seminar, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was invited to give a report on the council's cross-strait policy for this year.

Wu said the latest development in the cross-strait situation has been the drive by Ma to "oppose independence and promote unification" with China.

Wu said the drive began in December when Ma told Newsweek magazine that the KMT's goal is to see "eventual unification" with China. Since then, the KMT chairman had spoken to more foreign media to propagate the KMT's idea of advocating unification, he said.

Ma recently returned from a trip to Europe, during which he made several comments on cross-strait relations.

On Feb. 10, Ma told the BBC that "when the time is ripe, the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should decide whether or not to go for unification." On Feb. 12, he said that if the KMT comes into power again, it won't rule out discussing unification with China. On Feb. 14, he talked about creating an environment conducive to unification and a mutual agreement on the "one China" principle during an address at the London School of Economics.

Wu said the government will continue to strive to increase the defense budget to reduce the tilt in the cross-strait military balance toward China and to take a more pro-active stance to control the cross-strait economic exchanges.

Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
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