Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday confirmed that he had secretly met American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt this month, but declined to comment on claims he had warned Burghardt that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was planning destabilizing election tactics.
"I met Burghardt as a good friend, not as a vice presidential candidate. Out of respect for him, I will not reveal [the contents of] our conversation," Siew said in Hsinchu when approached for comment.
Burghardt arrived in Taipei on Dec. 8 for a four-day visit.
He said at the time that the objective of his visit was to emphasize the US government's stance on the government-backed UN referendum.
During his stay, aside from meeting President Chen Shui-bian (
The meeting between Siew and Burghardt, however, was not disclosed until DPP Legislator Sandy Yen (
Yen claimed that Siew told Burghardt that the DPP, in order to win the election, was prepared to stage attempted assassinations or incidents to exacerbate cross-strait tensions.
Yen said Siew had told the AIT chairman that the KMT insisted on adopting the two-step voting procedure because it wanted to hinder the DPP's UN referendum.
Siew yesterday did not confirm whether he had told Burghardt that the DPP could stage an incident to manipulate voters, but said only that many people had expressed such concerns.
He rebutted claims that he had lambasted the DPP in his meeting with the AIT chairman.
"All my efforts are done with the intention of expanding Taiwan's international space and protecting national interests. It's not fair to say I insulted the government," he said.
On two-step voting, Siew said only that the procedure gave voters the option of not accepting a referendum ballot, which would lower the voting rate and make it difficult for the referendum to draw enough votes for the results to be valid.
The KMT has sponsored a referendum on returning to the UN as the Republic of China or using any other name deemed appropriate. Siew said the KMT version was intended to counter the government's referendum.
Ma yesterday declined to comment on Siew's private meeting with Burghardt, saying only that members of his campaign were being careful and were concerned the DPP would stage an incident.
Ma vowed to put an end to the "green terror" if elected.
"We hope that we can detect any [inappropriate election] tactics and prevent them from influencing the elections," Ma said during a visit to Taichung County.
KMT Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday defended the party's efforts to push for re-entry into the UN and other international bodies and said the KMT supported two-step voting because it was easier than one-step voting.
Su further accused Yen and the DPP of misusing national security resources to secure intelligence about Siew and Burghardt's meeting.
Su called on Yen to make public the sources of her information.
"We understand that the National Security Bureau must possess certain information and as an opposition party we can't really do anything if the ruling party uses national resources against us," Su said.
Su declined to say whether the private meeting was arranged by AIT or the KMT.
At a separate setting yesterday, Chen dismissed the allegations that the DPP would resort to staging incidents to increase cross-strait tensions to influence the March poll.
"What's a `dirty trick?' Who said [I would resort to `dirty tricks']? Who knows what Burghardt said [to Siew]? You [reporters] shouldn't ask me to comment on rumors," the president said when approached by reporters for comment on an Apple Daily report yesterday.
Chen doubles as DPP chairman.
The paper published what it said were minutes from the Siew-Burghardt meeting.
AIT Spokesman Thomas Hodges yesterday said he could not confirm the authenticity of the minutes because he had not read the Apple Daily report.
Hodges said his office might issue a statement on Monday after reading the report.
"The US government has no favorite in the 2008 presidential election. We will work with whichever president is selected by the Taiwan people," he said when asked by the Taipei Times for comment on the minutes, which seemed to suggest the US favored the KMT.
AIT acting spokesman Lawrence Walker said the AIT had "no comment" on whether his office had contacted the KMT yesterday requesting an explanation after the Apple Daily report.
Meanwhile, Hsieh yesterday said he believed the minutes had been leaked by the KMT.
The KMT shouldn't accuse Chen and the DPP of planning "dirty tricks" without providing evidence, Hsieh said.
Hsieh also urged Ma to stop speaking poorly of Taiwan to foreigners.
Foreigners "will not give Taiwan more international room if we keep telling them bad things about Taiwan."
"Ma always says bad things about Taiwan when he is abroad," Hsieh said.
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