The three vice presidential candidates in the Jan. 14 presidential election had one last occasion last night to present their policies on a program hosted by the Central Election Commission.
In his remarks, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) listed the political achievements of KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over the past four years.
Wu praised Ma, saying he had demonstrated rectitude, capability and decisive judgement.
Photo courtesey of the Central Election Commission
“This is the kind of leader our nation needs,” he said.
He said the Ma administration had managed to keep the economy expanding after the 2008 global financial crisis, adding that Ma had also maintained order and stability during Typhoon Morakot in 2010 and the swine flu scare.
Wu said that not only is Ma clean of corruption, he can inspire rectitude and lead an efficient government.
On the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Wu said that signing the trade pact with China had allowed Taiwan to avoid a heavy hit in exports amid the global financial crisis.
Addressing opposition by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over the ECFA, Wu said that Ma would proceed with the ECFA and other policies that benefit Taiwan while safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, security and prosperity.
Ma’s actions and policies all strengthen Taiwan, stabilizing its society and boosting its economy, Wu said.
DPP vice presidential candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) criticized the Ma administration over its economic performance in the past four years, saying the average unemployment rate under Ma was 5.1 percent, higher than under the DPP.
He also accused Ma of failing to keep his “6-3-3” campaign promises while Taiwanese suffered a decrease in real wages to levels not seen in 13 years and declining standards of living for farmers.
“The misery index has increased” under Ma, he said, adding that the DPP worried about the debt left behind for future generations under the Ma administration.
If the DPP is elected in two weeks, it will create an efficient, clean and fair society, Su said.
In his remarks, People First Party vice presidential candidate Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄), PFP chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) running mate, said the public could not trust Ma and that Tsai’s campaign platform lacked substance, and called on voters to select Soong to ensure cross-strait peace.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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