The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will continue to work closely with the Presidential Office and the Cabinet to present effective policies and win elections, party secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said yesterday.
King made the comments in response to CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets’ latest report on the 2012 presidential election.
The Hong Kong-based firm said in a report on Tuesday that while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was heading in the right direction by adopting China-leaning policies, the KMT could still lose the next presidential election.
The report, titled, “The KMT As Its Own Worst Enemy,” said the 2012 presidential election is “the KMT’s to lose,” and warned that events of recent months, such as the government’s poor handling of Typhoon Morakot, showed the KMT could lose the 2012 election.
King yesterday said the report offered candid and practical points of view, as no political party should mess up its own chances in seeking to win elections.
“The Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the KMT will work closely toward the same goal, and we will not stumble,” he said.
King said the KMT has devoted a great deal of effort to promoting party unity.
In response to the report’s comment that the KMT’s record of administrative achievements was poor and appeared to be insensitive to public opinion, King said officials from the KMT, the Presidential Office and the Cabinet meet periodically to discuss issues and seek to respond to public opinion, and that Ma and the KMT will work harder to solve public grievances and perform better.
In related news, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday continued his attack on the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) over its report on the CLSA’s forecast.
On Wednesday, the Liberty Times ran a front-page story titled “Ma would lose in 2012: CLSA” and cited the report as saying that while Ma’s China policy is the right direction, the Ma administration could lose the next presidential election because of “self-inflicted wounds.”
Another Chinese-language newspaper, the United Daily News, on Thursday published a similar story with a headline that read “CLSA’s bold prediction: Ma to lose in 2012 re-election.”
Wu called a press conference on Thursday, singling out the Liberty Times and accusing it of distorting the CLSA report’s conclusions.
In response to Wu’s allegation, Liberty Times spokesman Jackson Su (蘇宇暉) on Thursday said it found the accusation “regrettable and confused” as Wu chose to single out the Liberty Times.
The Liberty Times yesterday published a follow-up story with a standing headline that read: “English professor opines on the CLSA report: Ma should win 2012 but could lose.”
However, yesterday continued to attack the Liberty Times, calling on the paper to apologize for the story. Su did not respond to this particular attack.
Meanwhile, the CLSA issued a statement on Thursday in Chinese and English, saying that it “maintains the view we proposed in our June 2009 report, ‘KMT in the driver’s seat,’ and that the 2012 presidential election is the KMT’s to lose.”
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