Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) hopefuls exchanged barbs in a televised debate yesterday as they presented their platforms and sought support from party members in an election for party chairperson scheduled to take place next Sunday.
While incumbent Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pledged to lead the party back into power in 2012, former two-term Taipei county commissioner You Ching (尤清) challenged Tsai’s leadership, saying she did not perform well in her debate last month with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on the Ma administration’s proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
Tsai said that during her two-year tenure as DPP chairperson, the party managed to improve its image, with various polls showing public trust in the DPP growing and occasionally exceeding that for the governing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Although the DPP’s priority is to win back power, Tsai said the party’s core policies are a fairer distribution of wealth, environmental protection and economic growth, rather than just the endless pursuit of GDP growth.
For his part, You took issue with a recent statement by Tsai that the DPP did not rule out engaging in direct dialogue with China. He said such a commitment raised the question of whether under Tsai’s leadership the party would abandon its Taiwan Independence Clause and Resolution on Taiwan’s Future in its dialogue with China.
You also attacked the DPP’s nomination process for November’s five special municipal elections, adding that the failure of the party to choose its candidates for the Taipei City, Sinbei City and Greater Taichung elections was “messed-up.”
Tsai said she was confident the public would find the party’s nominees “combat ready” when the party presents its final list in the next few days.
She said the party would not engage in any dialogue with China if Beijing set preconditions.
Tsai said the DPP would continue to insist that Taiwan’s future must be decided by its 23 million people.
Noting that the number of people who identify with Taiwan is far greater than the number who vote for the DPP, Tsai said the party’s goal was to win them over.
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