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Su opts for personality and policy in debate

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) took aim at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), during a televised policy presentation by the two vice presidential candidates last night.

The pair were supposed to discuss policies during the presentation, which was organized by the Central Election Commission, but Su said "a good running mate should not present his own policies" and then spent most of his half hour at the podium attacking Ma.

"The presidential election is not only an occasion for voters to choose a good platform, but also an opportunity for them to choose good values," he said.

Calling Ma "a member of the elite that has been over-protected by the KMT," Su said "many violent criminals" were granted parole after Ma's decision to relax requirements for parole applications during his term as justice minister from 1993 to 1996.

He said that the policy later proved a threat to the safety of the public.

"The lesson we learned from this is that Mr Ma's policies always have negative consequences," he said.

Ma's running mate, Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), defended Ma's character during the second part of his presentation, saying that he could feel Ma's "selflessness" and "enthusiasm" for Taiwan.

Siew then defended the "cross-strait common market" platform that he and Ma support.

Siew said that a common market mechanism could serve as "a basis for long-term peace" across the Taiwan Strait, adding that negotiations between Taiwan and China would take place on condition of reciprocity.

Siew said this meant that "China should recognize the existence of Taiwan" first.

The results of negotiations would then be open to public scrutiny, he said, adding that the DPP had been trying to discredit "a good policy" because it had been unable to propose sound economic policies of its own.

Su countered by questioning the feasibility of Siew's plan, saying that he doubted China would show the goodwill that was necessary to negotiate with Taiwan.
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