Responding to criticism by People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) over the weekend, King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office, said yesterday that criticism should always be given with facts to support it.
“I believe I have not overstepped the boundaries and I am willing to have the public scrutinize everything that I have done since I joined politics,” King said, adding that engaging in a war of words was not beneficial to the development of democratic politics.
Soong said in a TV interview on Sunday that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was operating under the “King-Ma system,” which “does not reflect the true spirit of the KMT that I love.”
Republic of China (ROC) founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) said that power should reside in the people, but now “power is held by a few,” Soong said.
He also confirmed there would be no meeting between him and Ma before the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] criticized me a lot when I toured the US and made some serious charges, including that I was running the government, working outside the system and hurting national dignity,” King said.
The party should not resort to such “slander” for electoral purposes, he said.
“I asked the DPP to provide concrete evidence and said I would be glad to be inspected,” King said, adding that the DPP had not responded to his demands.
In a democratic society and to foster a positive election culture, any allegations and criticism should be backed by concrete evidence and the person making the accusations should be willing to step forward to prove that the allegations are sound, King said.
“If you can’t present proof, then the allegations become a war of words, and this becomes a negative slandering culture, which has a negative impact on Taiwan’s election culture,” King said.
As for the KMT and the PFP holding talks, King said that fostering dialogue was the prerogative of the two parties’ secretaries-general.
“The campaign office is mainly concerned with the matters pertaining to the presidential election,” King said.
Asked about reports of Ma -accepting an interview with -Selton University honorary professor Yang Li-yu (楊力宇) to rebut allegations by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that he was “selling out Taiwan” and that he would debate Tsai on the matter, King said he had just learned about it in a news report yesterday.
“President Ma actually said quite clearly that in a democratic society, everyone debates issues in public, especially during presidential elections,” King said.
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