Ma urges calm amid green card allegations

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged supporters to remain calm in response to any final attacks or allegations that he has a green card from former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) officials and other US officials organized by the rival camp.

"I call upon my supporters not to react too strongly to their remarks. We should not fall for my opponent's attempt to disturb the election," Ma told a press conference in Taipei yesterday.

"I already abandoned my green card more than 20 years ago ... And the US government has already stated clearly that Ma Ying-jeou's green card is invalid," he said.

Ma's comments echoed KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi's (吳敦義) claim on Thursday that former AIT chairwoman Therese Shaheen would attend Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) election-eve party and repeat Hsieh's accusations that Ma's green card was still valid.

KMT Communication and Culture Committee head Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) yesterday further accused pro-green TV station Formosa TV of cooperating with Hsieh's campaign to invite retired US officials to challenge Ma's green card status on its political show.

Swamped by local and foreign reporters, Ma yesterday reiterated that his green card was automatically invalidated when he applied for a non-immigrant visa, saying an individual cannot hold a green card and non-immigrant visa at the same time.

NON-ISSUE

"My green card should be a non-issue, but my opponent keeps manipulating the issue for election purposes," he said.

Joanna Lei (雷倩), a spokeswoman for the Ma camp, called on the US to abide by its principle of non-intervention in other nations' domestic affairs and pleaded with the international media to watch for potential foreign intervention in the election.

"We think the intervention could potentially change the course of the remainder of the campaign and this is something we are greatly concerned about," Lei told international journalists ahead of US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's press conference.

Lei said that a US congressperson calling a press conference 11 hours before the election would constitute foreign intervention.

"Articles 43, 50 and 96 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) specifically forbid foreign nationals from being involved in our presidential campaign," Lei said.

Ma's campaign said it had lodged a complaint with the Taipei City Central Election Commission yesterday against Shaheen over her potential interference in the election.

Meanwhile, Hsieh yesterday dismissed the KMT's allegation that his camp would burn down one of their southern campaign offices as a "dirty trick."

"History will prove it is a groundless accusation," Hsieh said, adding that Ma has a record of fabricating opinion polls after attempting to foil former KMT chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) presidential bid in the 2000 presidential election because Ma supported former People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

Regarding the Shaheen accusations, Hsieh spokesman Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) criticized Ma for making groundless allegations against a friend of Taiwan.

ELECTION PLOY

Another Hsieh spokesman Hsu Kuo-yong (徐國勇) said that he had heard that one of Ma's daughters would relinquish her US citizenship. Criticizing it as an election ploy, Hsu urged Ma to offer a clear account of his own green card rather than using his daughter to change the focus.

Hsu also alleged that the KMT is planning to spend NT$470 million (US$15.3 million) and to mobilize at least 200,000 people during the vote.

Hsu said those who obtain funding would receive a badge and wear it today, urging those against vote-buying to vote for the DPP.

"Vote-buying is shameless," he said. "So are those who wear the KMT's badge."

Hsu called on the public to photograph any suspected vote-buying and pay extra attention to those wearing the badges.

Hsu said Hsieh's campaign office would offer NT$5 million on top of the government's NT$15 million reward for providing information leading to a conviction for vote-buying. He also encouraged the public to call the anti-vote-buying hot lines.

In related news, a former employee of Acer Inc, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times yesterday that a friend still working at Acer said that company chairman J.T. Wang (王振堂) told department managers in a meeting earlier this week that should Ma lose, Acer would consider moving its headquarters out of Taiwan, possibly to Singapore. The managers then relayed the message to their staff members.

When contacted for comment, Acer Inc president for Taiwan Operations Scott Lin (林顯郎) refused to comment, saying he was not present at the meeting.

Calls to Acer spokesman Henry Wang (汪島雄) were not answered.

Additional reporting by Jerry Lin and staff writer