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Ma disputes `Taiwan leader' comment

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday use hand puppets as a visual demonstration during a press conference to call on Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng to join former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou's presidential bid as his running mate. PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he was misquoted by a KMT lawmaker who said he was a "candidate for the leadership of Taiwan."

Ma said he is a KMT nominee for the 2008 election for president of the Republic of China (ROC), not "Taiwan leader," as KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said recently during an interview with a Chinese TV station.

Wu described Ma as a candidate for "Taiwan leader" during an interview with Chinese Central TV (CCTV). Wu's choice of words met with criticism from the pan-green camp yesterday, as the term "leader" is a term used in China to deny the legitimacy of the office of president.

While Wu has been one of Ma's close aides, Ma yesterday expressed disapproval of Wu's "inappropriate remarks," adding that he would ask Wu to be more cautious with his words.

"I am running for the president of the ROC in 2008, not Taiwan leader. It's a simple and clear fact," Ma said yesterday after attending an event at Songshan Tsuyou Temple.

"Wu's description is very inappropriate, and I will ask him to watch his words," he added.

In his defense, Wu, on a separate occasion, said yesterday that "the Presidential Office," "President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)," "A-Bian [Chen's nickname]," and "presidential election in Taiwan" were all the choices of words in his interview, but the words were cut out when CCTV edited his interview.

"I didn't regret having the interview and I have a clear conscience about it," he said, adding that his reason for being interviewed was to promulgate democratic experiences in Taiwan.

Wu said he will boycott appearances on the CCTV program for the time being unless the station guarantees that it will not edit future interviews in the same way.

Wu said that before the interview, the CCTV anchor reminded him of avoiding choices of words in relation to "president" during the interview.

"But actually I couldn't make it during the interview. While I often said `presidential election in Taiwan,' sometimes I used `Taiwanese leadership election.' I didn't expect that the choice of the word `president' would be deleted," Wu said.

In related news, Ma earlier yesterday pledged to put greater effort into seeking party unity and winning the presidential election after learning of his sagging support rate in a recent poll.

A poll conducted by the Chinese-language China Times said Ma's support rate had dropped from about 50 percent in February to 33 percent, while his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) received 24 percent.

Meanwhile, Ma held a closed-door meeting with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) late last night to seek Wang's cooperation in the presidential election.

Wang had hoped that former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) could attend the meeting as mediator, but Lien declined the offer and urged the two to discuss the issue alone after he met Ma on Tuesday night.

During their meeting, Ma invited Wang to be his running mate, but Wang refused to give an answer.

It marked the first time that Ma had personally offered Wang the vice presidential ticket since Ma was named as KMT candidate by its Central Standing Committee on May 2.

"I understand the importance of this decision for the speaker and he needs more time. I would like to wait for him to think it over," Ma said.

Wang said he felt Ma's invitation was sincere, but he suggested Ma look for alternative candidates from the academic, political or business fields who could boost his appeal.

"I need to consider my ability and willingness, and to seek the opinions of others. In the meantime, I told [Ma] to feel free to think about other possible candidates," Wang said.

Wang denied that the answer was a "refusal" of Ma's invitation.

Wang said that he had until June 24 to make a decision, when Ma will be officially named as the KMT's presidential candidate at the party's national convention.

Ma said that he hoped Wang would give him an answer as soon as possible because pan-blue supporters and grassroots members were concerned about the KMT's ticket.

Additional reporting by mo Yan-chih
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