Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday indicated that he wasn't interested in running for the presidency, saying that "at this time, I have no plan to run in the 2004 presidential election."
Ma, who is also a member of KMT's Central Standing Committee, also dismissed rumors that the party intends to raise him to the post of chairman if Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) were to succeed in his bid in next year's election.
Meanwhile, PFP Chairman James Soong (
"The mechanism could well be used by the coalition to exchange views, deliberate policies and integrate campaigning teams," Soong said at a press conference held at the PFP headquarters following the party's policy meeting.
While failing to elaborate, Soong said that he would convey the idea to Lien when the two meet Friday to talk about the election campaign.
Yesterday's policy meeting was called to gather views from party members with regard to the KMT-PFP cooperation, said Soong.
"First, KMT-PFP cooperation must not be a restoration of the old system and the cooperation should be carried out in the framework of placing Taiwan's interest as the top priority and upholding the soveignty of the Republic of China," Soong said.
"Also, KMT-PFP cooperation shouldn't be seen as an effort to for the pan-blue camp and the pan-green camp to face off, but rather, to integrate Taiwan's society at large to bring about reconciliation," he said.
Basically, the PFP's stand with regard to the KMT-PFP partnership is quite simple, which is to reflect the public's desire to achieve cooperation between the PFP and the KMT to field a joint-ticket for next year's presidential election, Soong said.
Saying that pan-blue supporters expect KMT-PFP cooperation, PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) said that if the two parties could not succeed in reaching a partnership in the run up to next year's presidential election, "then both the KMT and the PFP might just as well not take part in the presidential election at all."
Both PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (
Debate over whom to head the presidential ticket and who will be the running mate has been the thorny issue since the two opposition parties last December pledged to field a joint ticket for the presidential race, as both Lien and Soong seem eager to land the top spot.
"We think members of all parties will be more willing to accept the outcome of who will run on the ticket if such decisions are made through a round of polls," Shen said.
Soong said that he would convey to Lien the various views gathered from the policy meeting when the two men meet.
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