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Ma vows to undo name changes

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pledged to reverse the Democratic Progressive Party government's name-change policy and restore the words "Republic of China" (ROC) on stamps if elected.

Taiwan Post began to issue stamps marked with the name "Taiwan" in February after it changed its name from Chunghwa Post as part of the government's name-change campaign.

Ma yesterday reiterated his vow to put the nation's official title back on stamps if he wins the election.

He also said, however, that he would take public opinion into consideration before taking similar action to restore the official name elsewhere.

"It's against the regulations of the Universal Postal Union to change the name on stamps before the nation's name is changed," Ma said during an interview with UFO radio.

When asked to comment on the government's name-change campaign -- which included renaming Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall -- Ma condemned the government for confusing both citizens and foreigners with the campaign.

"I will deal with the name-change issue seriously if elected and listen to public opinion before making a decision to restore the title ROC in some contexts," he said.

In response to the government's decision to relax a limit on the height of buildings within a 3km radius of the runway of Taipei's Songshan Airport, Ma yesterday shrugged off concerns that the measure could disqualify the airport from handling cross-strait flights and promised to allow the airport to provide cross-strait flights if elected president.

He further promised to relax the cap on Taiwanese investment in China.

"The government should not manipulate political issues and ideology and become an obstacle to economic development," Ma said later during a visit to Neihu Technology Park.

If Songshan Airport serves cross-strait flights, more companies would establish headquarters or research centers in Taiwan while setting up factories in China, Ma said, as it would only take one-and-a-half hours to fly from Taipei to Shanghai.
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