Sun, Dec 11, 2011 page1

• 2012 ELECTIONS: Three vice presidential candidates meet in debate

  • By Mo Yan-chih and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporters
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  Integrity, furloughs from work and the administration’s record were among the issues discussed yesterday in the televised debate for the three vice presidential candidates in the Jan. 14 presidential election.

  In the two-and-half-hour debate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, touted the government’s commitment to clean and efficient governance and said only President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election could guarantee a corruption-free administration, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) accused the Ma administration of failing to deliver on campaign promises and blaming all its problems on the previous DPP administration.

  People First Party (PFP) candidate Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄) accused the DPP of putting its own ideology above everything else, and accused the Ma government of incompetence.

  Taiwan needed to develop itself into a “Switzerland of the Orient,” the 73-year-old epidemiology expert said, adding that the biotechnology, healthcare, care services and pharmaceutical sectors were the areas on which Taiwan needed to focus to ensure a prosperous future.

  Wu rebutted Su’s criticism that the KMT administration had failed to deliver on Ma’s first-term campaign promises and said that Taiwan was still repaying debts incurred by a corrupt DPP government from 2000 to 2008.

  “With the DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign staffed by the protegees of jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), how can voters be confident in ushering in a new DPP administration?” Wu repeatedly asked in the debate.

  Lin questioned why KMT heavyweights still wanted to support Ma, whose popularity has fallen.

  “Are they living in the -democratic era or the authoritarian era?” he asked, urging people to shake off their blue or green leanings and vote for PFP presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜). He also promised to apply his medical expertise to help in the administration.

  Following recent controversies over a luxury farmhouse and his wife’s attendance at a birthday party where male strippers performed, Su defended his integrity and insisted he and his wife, Hung Heng-chu (洪恆珠), would act with circumspection and accept public scrutiny.

  “Over the past 25 years since I entered the politics, I’ve instructed my staff and family members not to take any bribes or be involved in public affairs, and I would continue to follow that standard in the future ... Despite the rumors against my family that have been raised during election campaign, myself and my wife would be circumspect in all that we do and accept public scrutiny of all that we do,” he said in response to a question posted by media representatives during the debate.

  Wu, dismissed concerns about both his own and his wife’s use of fortune-tellers when asked whether they were superstitious.

  “Going to see a fortune-teller is not a flaw, and I have not visited even one over the past 10 years,” Wu said. “My wife has never interfered in public affairs and that is going back to the time I was Kaohsiung mayor, and she is not superstitious.”

  Lin, whose recent remarks about being attacked by 18,750 kilohertz (kHz) electromagnetic waves for three nights starting from Sept. 20 attracted a great deal of attention, yesterday repeated his claim when asked by media representatives to comment on the issue.

  He said he would devote more resources to studying the impact of electromagnetic waves on human health if elected.

  “I will also conduct investigations into the government’s eavesdropping programs and remove public fear of such acts,” he said.

  However, on the issue of unemployment and unpaid leave, Wu denied ever saying the company that invented unpaid leave should be awarded the Nobel Prize, while defending the Ma government’s efforts to increase the starting salary for recent graduates, which is about NT$22,000 per month.

  “I was applauding the efforts of employers and workers to put an end to unpaid leave, and said such efforts should be awarded a Nobel Prize,” he said.

  Su accused Wu of blaming the high unemployment rate among the young generation on the former DPP administration, and said Tsai and he would work to create new jobs and strengthen vocational education for the young if elected.

  Lin said Soong would seek to create more jobs for young people and devote more effort to taking care of the disadvantaged if elected.

  Responding to a proposal from a member of the media that candidates publicly disclose all their assets at home and abroad, Su said “the future vice president should adhere to higher standards,” adding his wife and daughter’s ­assets had already been released for public scrutiny.

  Lin described himself as the “cleanest” candidate, with his assets of just NT$2 million (US$66,400) in his bank accounts and a 33m² apartment on the outskirts of Taipei.

  Wu said he had disclosed his assets and would ask his sons to do the same. However, he was more reserved when discussing his daughter’s assets, explaining his daughter was married and she was not under his wing.

  When asked to address the nation’s economy following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Wu denied cross-strait negotiations were deadlocked and said the government would continue the negotiations while protecting the nation’s interests.

  Su said the DPP would accept cross-strait negotiations on the ECFA if elected, but would not accept the lack of transparency in the process.

  “We will ensure the transparency of the negotiation process [if elected], and the rights of Taiwanese will definitely be our top priority in future negotiations,” he said.

  Lin said the PFP would seek cross-strait peace and insist on a transparent process in all cross-strait negotiations.

  In the third section of the debate, where the candidates posed direct questions to one another, Wu asked Su his position on ­Taiwanese independence.

  “Taiwan is a sovereign country. No one can deny this,” Su said. “The future of the country will be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese, which could be unification, independence or maintaining the status-quo.”

  Lin said supported unification between Taiwan and China under the “one China” principle because it was enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

  In his question, Su asked Wu about the additional NT$1.3 trillion in debt accrued under Ma’s presidency.

  Su said that this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) report contradicted Ma’s claim that increased loans taken out by his administration were used to build national infrastructure and generate future economic benefits.

  The WEF’s report lowered the nation’s ranking in fiscal matters from 69 to 91 and for infrastructure from 19 to 25.

  “Where are the benefits?” Su asked.

  Wu responded by saying that the country ranked 13th among 142 economies surveyed by the WEF, which was the best-ever performance in its Global Competitiveness Report.

  “Overall, we have made progress and we also topped eight of the WEF’s indicators, despite the decline in our ranking on fiscal issues,” Wu said.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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