KMT lawmakers say future president must speak English

Opposition lawmakers yesterday proposed a legal amendment that English-language competency should be mandatory for all presidential aspirants.

Presidential hopefuls who fail to pass the intermediate level of General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) would be disqualified from running in the presidential election, according to the proposed amendment presented by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑).

The GEPT is administered in five levels -- Elementary, Intermediate, High-Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior -- and includes listening, reading, writing and speaking components.

"As a president, he has to engage in many diplomatic activities and negotiate matters of significance on behalf of the country. The nation would lack dignity if a president didn't have basic English skills," Hsieh told a press conference.

At Hsieh's request, the legislature's Home and Nations Committee yesterday put the amendment on tomorrow's schedule.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said that Taiwan would be a laughing stock in the international community if Hsieh Kuo-liang's amendment were passed.

Asked to comment on the proposal, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said it was "unnecessary" and "unreasonable."

"If it is really necessary that a president be proficient in a foreign language, that language doesn't necessarily have to be English. Most of our allies speak Spanish ... or maybe Japanese, as Japan is very near to us," Su said, addressing People First Party Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鐘紹和) in a legislative question-and-answer session yesterday.

KMT Legislator Liou Wan-ju (廖婉汝) asked Su to speak in English. Su, who does not speak fluent English, skirted the question, saying it was unnecessary for him to demonstrate his linguistic skills in the legislature.

The factors in selecting the leader of a country are a candidate's "capabilities" and "vision" rather than foreign language skills, Su added.

Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), another presidential aspirant, lauded the proposal.

The requirement seems "reasonable" only if the rules of the game are established in advance, Frank Hsieh said yesterday.

Asked at a separate event yesterday to comment on the proposal, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- another presidential hopeful who speaks English -- said there was no need for an English proficiency test and that presidential contenders should instead demonstrate that they have a global perspective.

DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, who is also vying for the DPP's presidential nomination, said last night that if the English proficiency test were all that important, people might as well just make the national English speech contest champion the president of Taiwan.

Aiming to counter the KMT's proposal, DPP legislators Hsueh Ling (薛凌), Sandy Yen (莊和子) and Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧) said yesterday that they would propose an additional amendment requiring aspiring presidential candidates to pass a Hoklo proficiency test.

Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling