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Presidential election 2008: Hsieh pans KMT's China deals

Around 2,500 taxis park on the Erchong Floodway in Taipei County yesterday as members of the Chuan Min taxi drivers' association established a support network for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou after deciding to switch allegiance to the pan-blue camp. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday lambasted the agreements reached at the economic forums held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and said the forums "have been selling out Taiwan and they will continue to sell out Taiwan."

If the KMT wins the upcoming election, Hsieh said the communications set up between the two parties would become an official channel.

Without public oversight, interest groups and regional factions could participate in the forum and reach agreements with the CCP, leaving Ma with little alternative but to endorse them, he said.

With the KMT's legislative majority, the Taiwanese public would have no say on national policy, he said.

Under agreements reached at the forums Taiwan has invested more than NT$109 billion (US$3.5 billion) in China's experimental parks for cross-strait agricultural cooperation, but only NT$259 million in Taiwanese agricultural produce was exported to China in 2006, Hsieh said.

Hsieh said he was opposed to the "cross-strait common market" policy and thought it was strange that Ma ignored the "one China market" issue in his opening and closing remarks at Sunday's debate.

Hsieh said he suspected Ma did not have confidence in the policy.

In the debate Hsieh proposed putting the "cross-strait common market" policy to a referendum, urging voters who support the concept to vote for Ma and those who oppose it to vote for him.

Hsieh dismissed the policy as "irresponsible," saying that it was Ma's running mate, Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), not Hsieh who had coined the phrase "one China market."

Meanwhile, Hsieh attributed a slight decline in Ma's popularity to his opponent's performance during Sunday's debate.

A poll for the Chinese-language China Times placed the popularity of the DPP ticket at 22 percent, an increase of 1 percent from its previous survey, and that of the KMT ticket at 49 percent, a 4 percent decrease.

Another poll for the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday showed that Hsieh's popularity had increased from 18 percent to 22 percent after Sunday's debate, while Ma's slid from 55 percent to 52 percent.

The poll also found that 46 percent of the respondents considered that Ma won the debate, while 28 percent thought Hsieh the victor.

The China Times poll showed 43 percent of respondents said Ma did a better job, while 27 percent said Hsieh won the debate.

Hsieh said that a candidate's popularity constantly fluctuates and he paid little attention to polls.

He said the reason that Ma's approval rating had dropped was because he dodged questions on the "cross-strait common market" policy during the debate and frequently changed his position on issues when he came under pressure.

"I, on the other hand, have been consistent and did my best to explain and defend my policies," he said.

Another poll released by the Southern Taiwan Society yesterday showed that Ma had the support of 41 percent of respondents, while Hsieh was backed by 38 percent.

Commenting on the switch of allegiance of a taxi association linked with the pan-greens, Hsieh's campaign team yesterday dismissed it as a KMT election gambit.

Hsieh spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that there were many taxi associations in the nation and they supported different candidates. He said the campaign team was attempting to speak with each of them and seek their support.

Meanwhile, Ma yesterday condemned Hsieh for creating the term "one China market" in order to attack him.

"The so-called `one China market' is a scarecrow created by Hsieh. He has spared no effort in attacking the scarecrow, but what he has created does not exist," Ma said yesterday during a visit to Penghu (澎湖).

Ma said he and KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) had proposed the "cross-strait common market" policy to improve the nation's economy, and reiterated his earlier promise not to allow Chinese laborers to work in Taiwan.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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