Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday continued to urge Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to have a televised debate, saying that her insistence on letting a particular TV station host such an event runs counter to democratic principles.
“It has been customary practice for the Public Television Service (PTS, 公視) and the so-called four newspapers and one agency to jointly hold a TV debate for presidential candidates,” Chu said on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei to release his long-term care policy.
The four newspapers and one agency refer to the Chinese-language newspapers Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), Apple Daily, United Daily News and the China Times, as well as the Central News Agency.
Chu said Tsai’s attempts to interfere with the tradition on a technicality and asking other presidential candidates to attend a proposed TV debate held by a TV channel she specifically requests do not conform to democratic norms.
“I did not invent the joint TV debate. It has been a presidential election custom. Chairperson Tsai is urged to agree to the event as soon as possible, so that we can engage in a debate about our public policies,” Chu said.
The two candidates have come to an impasse on the issue of presidential debates.
Chu prefers to follow tradition and allow the first presidential debate to be held by the PTS and the five news outlets, while the DPP argues that SET-TV (三立電視) should be the host, as it tendered an invitation for a debate last year.
People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) has agreed to attend both of the proposed debates.
The DPP yesterday said that the KMT is finding excuses to avoid a debate between presidential candidates.
“Over the past few months, the KMT has been asking for a debate, yet the party has changed its mind when everyone else is ready — has the KMT’s attitude now changed because it has changed its presidential candidate?” DPP spokesperson Wang Ming-sheng (王閔生) said.
“Replacing its presidential candidate is the KMT’s own business, and it has no right to discard the original plan, forcing all other parties and media outlets to follow its new decision,” Wang said.
“Compared with [former KMT presidential candidate] Hung Hsiu-chu [洪秀柱], Chu is being dishonest and showing that he is narrow-minded by trying to dodge a debate using such excuses,” Wang added.
Wang said the DPP, the KMT and the PFP had reached an agreement to have SET-TV host the debate for the upcoming presidential candidate debate, but added that now the KMT changed its mind, which has prevented the debate.
“We regret the KMT is still dodging a debate, and we believe that the public would not approve it either,” Wang said.
Before the change of presidential candidate, Hung called for a debate with Tsai several times, but because of rumors that Hung would be replaced, the DPP said that it would wait until the KMT finalized its candidate to hold a debate.
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