The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) showed their softer side yesterday as officials unveiled the fifth TV advert of the alliance's presidential campaign.
Unlike previous TV commercials, which openly attacked the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the new advert takes a more subtle approach and features children playing in a yard.
The ad shows two ethnic mainland Chinese kids being picked on by their peers, who brand them "the clan that sells out Taiwan (
The ad concludes with a voice-over by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The message was in line with an earlier campaign speech by Lien in which he urged the public to call a halt to ethnic animosity.
Pan-blue officials said the ad's softer approach was intended to appeal to swing voters, with emphasis being placed on the attitude that the nation ought not to further indulge itself in ethnic issues.
"The ad uses children's voices and expressions to show that causing ethinic rifts is absurd," said KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元). "It also conveys the alliance's position of a moderate pro-localization stance (溫和的本土派).
"The ad ends with an appeal by Lien that we are all Taiwanese," Tsai said.
Tsai said that the alliance would release similar types of ads in the future and called on voters "to terminate Chen's chaos in policy, rhetoric and expense."
The new TV ad would air sometime after the New Year holidays, Tsai said.
DPP campaign headquarters spokesman Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), however, said he had found the ad superficial.
"Over the past three, four years, we have not smelled even a hint of reconciliation [from the pan-blue camp,]" Wu said. "Reconciliation is not something you demand from others, it is an act that starts with the self."
The KMT-PFP alliance plans to produce 20 TV adverts in the run up to next March's election.
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