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Presidential election 2008: 13 days to go: Hsieh may compromise on referendum

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said he was willing to compromise if the legal threshold for a valid referendum is lowered to a simple majority.

For the sake of seeking a consensus and Taiwan's international profile, Hsieh said he was willing to separate the two referendums from the presidential election if the legal threshold is reduced to a simple majority.

The DPP has proposed holding a referendum on seeking UN membership using the name "Taiwan," while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has initiated a referendum on rejoining the body using the name "Republic of China" or any other "practical" name.

Half of all eligible voters must vote in favor of a referendum for it to succeed, according to the Referendum Law (公投法).

In addition to the voter turnout threshold, the law stipulates that the signatures of 0.5 percent of eligible voters -- approximately 80,000 -- be collected to apply to hold a referendum.

In the second application stage, 5 percent of eligible voters -- approximately 800,000 -- must sign the petition before it can be screened by the Referendum Review Committee.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said on Wednesday that he would hold cross-party negotiations on separating the referendums on UN membership from the presidential election if the KMT is willing to amend the Referendum Law to lower the voting threshold for referendum results to be considered valid.

As the legislature is set to go into a recess in two weeks, Hsieh yesterday said he hoped the legislature would come to an agreement on the matter. With the KMT's three-quarters majority, Hsieh said it would be easy to amend the law if a consensus were reached.

But the DPP "would be left with little option" if the KMT is trying to stall the process and foil the two referendums, he said.

Meanwhile, Hsieh's campaign yesterday continued to lambaste the "cross-strait common market" proposed by KMT rival Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) running mate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長).

Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓), a Hsieh campaign spokesperson, said that Taiwan has invested more than NT$109 billion in China's experimental parks for cross-strait agricultural cooperation, while only NT$259 million in Taiwanese agricultural produce was exported to China as of 2006.

"With the government ban in place, over NT$109 billion of technology and capital has gone to China. I cannot imagine how much investment would go to China if Ma is elected president," she said.

A poll released by the Taiwan Thinktank yesterday showed that a majority of the respondents said they were against the free flow of people and products under the framework of a "cross-strait common market."

Over 67 percent of the poll respondents said that they were worried about the deterioration of social security and quality of life if a vast number of Chinese were allowed to come and go freely.

Of the people polled, 64 percent said that they were worried that poor quality food products from China would enter the local market if both sides became a common market.

In other developments, Hsieh yesterday criticized Ma for being selfish and disrespectful as Ma was coughing when Hsieh was speaking during a televised presentation of the candidates' platforms on Friday night.

"While he should have apologized for disturbing me, he said he was taking advantage of the time when I was speaking to cough," Hsieh said. "Apparently he was thinking only of himself."

At a separate setting yesterday, Ma said he was willing to offer an apology. Ma said he has been suffering from respiratory allergies recently.

"My throat was not very comfortable, and I was not trying to disturb Hsieh on purpose. I will apologize to him if he felt my coughing interfered too much with his presentation," he said.

Ma said that hopefully his respiratory symptoms would get better so there would be less disruption during the second presidential debate this afternoon.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
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