People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Soong, running in the Taipei mayoral election as an independent, claimed KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (
"There were only four people at the meeting, if it wasn't Chan Chun-po [who leaked the news], could it be Ma Ying-jeou? Who else could it be if it wasn't Chan?" Soong told reporters while canvassing support at a market in Nankang.
Soong then urged his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh presented photographs on Sunday to support his claim that Ma and Soong met at a location on Taipei's Renai Road between 10pm on Friday and 2am on Saturday to discuss the possibility of abandoning KMT candidate Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and saving Soong "in a bid to defeat him in Saturday's election."
Hsieh has so far refused to reveal the identity of his source.
"If the photos were not from the National Security Bureau, then where were they from? Could it be that Hsieh sent people to spy on us? ... Tell us where the photos were from," Soong said.
Ma yesterday dismissed Soong's accusations, saying that his party would never leak the details of private meetings.
"The meeting with Chairman Soong did not touch on anything about `dumping-and-saving,' or who should withdraw from the election. There were no exchanges of interest," Ma said in response to reporters' questions.
Accompanying Hau to canvass support for him in the city's Wanhua district, Ma said the KMT would spare no effort in campaigning for Hau.
KMT Spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (
"The KMT thanks Chairman Soong for his comments ... Our goal of seeking KMT-PFP cooperation has not changed," he said.
Fielding speculation about "dump-and-save" strategies, Soong's protege, PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), yesterday complained that former president Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) daughter-in-law Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡) has been calling on pan-blue supporters to "dump Soong and save Hau" while visiting city districts.
In related news, Hsieh yesterday afternoon showed reporters a text message which said Soong would withdraw from the race today.
"My source came from within the KMT," said Hsieh. "But I cannot tell you who it is."
Soong's camp quickly dismissed the claim.
Lai Yueh-tchienn (
"Mr. Soong will run in the election," Lai told a press conference. "If Hsieh refuses to make public the source of the text message by Wednesday, we will definitely take legal action against him."
If Soong did not withdraw from the election today as Hsieh predicted, Hsieh should withdraw from the election himself on Thursday, Lai added.
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) urged Hsieh to run in the election.
"I wonder whether the message was sent by Sung Chi-li (
"The information we had was that Hsieh would withdraw from the election," PFP Legislator Lee Hung-chun (
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang and Shih Hsiu-chuan
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