Fri, Mar 21, 2008 page3

• Presidential election 2008: 1 day to go: Let's postpone the election, Hsieh says

  HSIEH'S TSUNAMI The DPP presidential candidate said halting the election would send a `shockwave' around the world, but the KMT and CEC said it would not happen

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) proposed yesterday that the presidential election be suspended and that he and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), stage a sit-in to show solidarity with Tibet.

  There are many ways to support Tibet, Hsieh said, adding that one was for him and Ma to sacrifice their personal interests and protest against China's bloody crackdown.

  "It would definitely send a shockwave around the world," he told reporters at his campaign office.

  While Ma has not ruled out boycotting the Beijing Olympics if the Chinese government continues its suppression of Tibetans, Hsieh said it was hard to gauge whether the situation had worsened.

  "Ma's position is unclear," he said.

  Hsieh said a Taiwanese Olympic boycott might not be effective because China did not care whether or not Taiwan took part in the Games.

  "Beijing has never believed that Taiwan is qualified to participate in the Olympics," Hsieh said. "As the host country, they cannot reject us -- but they do not want us there."

  Hsieh criticized Ma for making a hasty decision and vacillating on his position. Politicians must exercise caution when they talk about sports and religion, he said.

  China has a track record of denigrating the sovereignty of Tibet and Taiwan, Hsieh said, adding that the Olympic torch relay was another example of this.

  When Taiwan rejected Beijing's arrangements for the relay, Hsieh said Ma had accused the DPP of ignoring the interests of Taiwanese athletes.

  "Now he proposes boycotting the Olympic games," he said. "It only proves that [Ma] frequently changes his position and sees the Tibet issue as a trifling matter. What would happen to this country if he were elected president?"

  In response, Ma spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) criticized Hsieh's suggestion to postpone the presidential poll.

  "Postponing the election would seriously damage Taiwan's democracy," Su said at Ma's campaign headquarters.

  Su urged Hsieh not to distract voters with such suggestions.

  Central Election Commission (CEC) Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天佑) assured the KMT caucus that the CEC would not postpone the presidential election unless a candidate died or was near death, in accordance with the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法).

  The commission would hold a meeting to determine whether to stop the election if a candidate were seriously wounded, Teng said.

  He also said that if either candidate held an election-eve news conference after 10pm, they would be fined.

  By law, campaign activities must cease by 10pm the night before the election. Violators are subject to fines of up to NT$5 million (US$163,000).

  However, Teng did not say whether broadcasters would be punished for giving airtime to a candidate after the election eve deadline.

  Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Flora Wang
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