In the DPP's New Year greeting to the people of Taiwan, the party said yesterday that the corrupt ruling party should be swept out to make room for a new, clean administration.
The party urged voters to clear away the filth that had gathered in political circles over the past decades of KMT rule, stressing that the best way to welcome in the new spring in Taiwan would be to accomplish the transfer of political power to the opposition party.
洍t is traditional for people to celebrate the lunar New Year by sweeping out all the old and dirty corners of the house and decorate the place with new ornaments, said DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄).
浣or the same reason, people should clear away the dark and corrupt elements of politics that have been created by the KMT's 56 years of rule, Lin said, stressing that only when the KMT becomes an opposition party can the DPP establish a new, well-ordered government.
Lin led party officials yesterday in cleaning up the DPP's central headquarters in Taipei, though he took time out to criticize the KMT.
He said the KMT was the 烑argest obstacle to Taiwan's development in the new century.
毣fter 56 years of rule by the KMT, the unemployment rate has reached 2.92 percent while the income gap between rich and poor has increased five-and-a-half times, Lin said.
涆he KMT's party-run businesses are worth a total of NT$600 billion making it the richest party in the world and biggest enterprise in Taiwan. It only cares about its own interests and has forgotten the people's needs, Lin added.
He said that shifting power away from the ruling party would be like an end-of-year spring cleaning.
洍t will give our country an entirely new look, but it will not cause any chaos, Lin said.
Meanwhile, the party's presidential candidate, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), and his running mate Annettee Lu (呂秀蓮), made further clarifications to their stand on the Taiwan security issue, in response to KMT slurs about Chen's pro-independence position.
The KMT has said that Chen's election would invite an invasion from China.
Chen reaffirmed his commitment to improving the cross-strait relationship, adding that he would never intentionally provoke China.
浠e [the DPP] will only be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker, Chen said.
Chen made the comments while visiting 921 quake victims in central Taiwan yesterday, where he asked them to be confident about the DPP's rule after the March 18 election.
To encourage victims to overcome feelings of depression during the Lunar New Year holiday, Chen promised to offer better living conditions, saying his administration would grant housing loans to help reconstruct their houses if that is what they wanted to do.
浠hat we will give quake victims will include at least 100,000 employment opportunities, Chen said.
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