The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed criticism by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government’s policies during the announcement of her presidential bid, urging Tsai to instead present a solid platform for national development.
In the official announcement of her bid, Tsai accused the Ma administration of “sacrificing national dignity and sovereignty” for the sake of strengthening relations with China.
Responding to her speech, Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the comments were “void criticism” and defended the government’s efforts on reviving the economy and improving cross-strait relations.
“We are not surprised by Tsai’s criticism against President Ma, as she is the opposition party leader. However, she dodged her responsibility as a political party leader and failed to convince people using solid policies. Is she going to lead the nation by only offering criticism?” he said at the Presidential Office.
Defending the Ma administration’s achievements, Lo said the nation’s economic growth reached 10.82 percent last year, while the unemployment rate continued to drop since Ma took office.
He also urged Tsai to clarify whether she supported the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and to offer a solution if she opposed the economic pact.
Ma, who doubles as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, is expected to formally establish his campaign team in May. Former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), one of Ma’s top aides, who stepped down in -January from the party, will serve as Ma’s campaign manager.
The KMT called for a virtuous competition in the presidential election.
“We call for virtuous competition between the KMT and the DPP in future to contribute to Taiwan’s democracy,” KMT Culture and Communication Commission head Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said.
He joined Lo in challenging Tsai over what they called her failure to state her stance on major issues, such as cross-strait policies, the ECFA and the so-called “1992 consensus,” and urged her not to flip-flop on the issues because it would not help promote a reasonable dialogue between the two parties.
In a response later yesterday, aides to Tsai said the only people who were fully qualified to question her platform were Taiwanese voters.
Their decision, first in the party’s telephone poll primaries next month and later in the presidential election would be indication enough, they said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
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