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Winston Wang mulls candidacy, report says

Winston Wang (王文洋), son of billionaire Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), is considering running for president next year as an independent candidate, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday, claiming that he would probably announce his decision on Double Ten National Day.

The newspaper cited anonymous sources as saying that Winston Wang was concerned about the economic downturn and bickering between the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

The report quoted the sources as saying that Winston Wang was being encouraged to run for president by political figures including pro-independence heavyweights.

His daughter, however, was strongly against the idea, the report said, claiming she was afraid of losing contact with her father during campaigning as her mother had passed away.

The report said that Winston Wang would launch a campaign platform focused on improving the nation's economy and international competitiveness.

Winston Wang previously encouraged Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to run for president, but Wang Jin-pyng yesterday said did not believe Winston Wang would run for president and did not know if he was considering it.

Winston Wang would need to collect between 220,000 and 240,000 signatures to enter the race.

When asked for comment, Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign spokesman, said it was the right and liberty of every citizen to run for president, provided they meet the requirements to declare candidacy.

Chao, however, said that he believed next year's presidential election would be a showdown between the pan-green and pan-blue camps.

KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said only that he had no knowledge of Winston Wang planning to enter the race.

Ma's campaign spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that Ma respected anyone's constitutional right to run for president and wished any candidates good luck.

The Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, which enjoys a close relationship with Winston Wang, yesterday said Winston Wang was not suitable to be president.

Group convenor Jeff Lin (林建甫) said he had heard rumors that Winston Wang was interested in running for president about a year ago. Lin said that there are many ways to love Taiwan, adding that it is not easy to win a presidential election because it is highly political.
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