Taiwan Quick Take: Wang won't be Ma's mate

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that he would not be Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) running mate in the 2008 presidential election. Wang made the remarks when asked to comment on a report in yesterday's Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times). The report said that Ma's camp has been considering Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), who is a former member of the Control Yuan, as his running mate for the 2008 election. "I hope everything goes smoothly and successfully for them," Wang said. He is considered a KMT 2008 presidential hopeful and an ideal running mate for Ma because of his Taiwanese background and the fact that he is a southerner. But Wang said yesterday that his job was to push bills that were important to the country's development through the legislature.