KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (
The vice president's harsh words received heavy coverage in local media, and were widely criticized as personal assaults.
At a rally held at the KMT's headquarters and attended by the party's overseas members who have returned to join the campaign, Lien repeated his claims that he and his running mate Premier Vincent Siew (
"The reason why foreign government leaders and media pay so much attention to Taiwan's election is that one candidate represents unstable factors," Lien said.
"So everyone is worrying that the situation in the Asia-Pacific region would be endangered. What that candidate stands for is disaster and war."
Lien regularly states that he and Siew are the sole guarantors of peace and stability in the region. But yesterday marked the first occasion where he insinuated the international community is concerned about the possible election of other candidates.
Lien also slammed the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (
Lien said that "one candidate," referring again to Chen, has no adequate experience in governing and would adopt foreign theories wholesale regardless of the differences in social conditions between Taiwan and foreign countries.
The remark was apparently referring to the UK prime minister Tony Blair's "third way" that has inspired many of Chen's proposals. "Isn't this kind of immature person, party and idea a joke?" Lien said.
To Lien, independent presidential candidate James Soong (
"He claims that he is above political parties and factions(
"They are just a small gang," Lien said.
Earlier yesterday at another rally, Lien said that one candidate always claims to love the people, but is in fact "wolf-hearted and dog-lunged," a Chinese phrase meaning malevolent and malicious. Again, Lien did not directly name the person to whom he was referring.
On the same theme, at the KMT's policy-making central standing committee meeting, KMT chairman President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) demanded every party member fight "for the party's historical mission ? and for the peace and security of the Asia-Pacific region."
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