Top leaders of pro-independence political groups, including the Taiwan Indepen-dence Party's (TAIP) presidential candidate Cheng Pen-cheng (鄭?鎮), yesterday vowed to unite in support of DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (3?糮? to win the "Taiwanese" presidential election.
"There is unlimited space for cooperation between the TAIP and the DPP," Cheng said at a press conference, sponsored by DPP lawmaker Trong Tsai (
Cheng, also chairman of the TAIP, expressed his hope to unite with other pro-independence politicians and support the DPP, but did not say whether he would drop out of the presidential campaign.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The 2000 election should never be taken by a `Chinese.' And I agree that all Taiwanese should unite together to win the election," Cheng said.
He said that the final decision of whether or not to drop out of the campaign would have to be made by the TAIP's policy making committee.
Chen commended the TAIP and Cheng for advancing Taiwan's independence, saying he would implement Cheng's ideas for reforming the government system.
"If I am elected, I will organize a coalition government, which the TAIP leaders should join," Chen said.
Chen also reaffirmed his stance that Taiwan was an independent country and the "special state-to-state" relations were the only way to describe the cross-strait situation.
Cheng and Chen both advocated uniting all Taiwanese, but the TAIP remained insistent on pushing its own candidate for the presidency.
"We have already announced our intention to run for the presidency. The voice advocating Taiwan's independence needs to be widely heard during the campaign," said Tsai Ting-lin (
Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), the DPP's candidate in the 1996 presidential election and an influential heavyweight in pro-independence groups, said that it was hard to reach consensus on uniting all pro-independent groups in the campaign.
"The progress of Taiwan's independence movement is not as good as we may have expected. That can be blamed on some members who obstinately stick to an irrational stand," Peng said.
Peng criticized former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (
Over the past two years, the TAIP has accused the DPP of abandoning its original goal of carrying through Taiwan's independence, and faulted Chen for turning to the TAIP only during election seasons.
Officials said coordination between pro-independence groups during the past month has shown considerable progress.
Before yesterday's conference, the TAIP's Policy Decision Committee spent 13 hours through Thursday night discussing whether to drop out of the presidential campaign.
A majority of the 12 committee members voted to remain in the campaign.
"We will not actively attack Chen during the campaign unless he openly speaks against Taiwan independence," TAIP spokesman Tsai said.
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