Thu, Nov 03, 2011 page3

• 2012 ELECTIONS: Ma’s campaign wooing Pingtung

  • By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter, in Pingtung County
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  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday held an out-of-town Central Standing Committee meeting in Pingtung County.

  President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) led legislative candidates in the party’s election campaign efforts and touted his administration’s successes in developing the county.

  Seeking to boost election momentum in Pingtung — home to both Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her running mate, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) — Ma said that his government had invested more than NT$33 billion (US$1.1 billion) in construction projects in the region and challenged Tsai and Su’s efforts there.

  

  President Ma Ying-jeou, center, holds hands with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidates at the party’s out-of-town Central Standing Committee meeting in Donggang Township, Pingtung County yesterday.

  Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times

  “I have visited Pingtung more than Chairperson Tsai. I am not a Pingtung native, but the policies I’ve promoted should prove that I love this county,” Ma said at the Donggang Fishermen’s Association.

  Ma touted the government’s cross-strait policies in helping boost the export of grouper fish, a major aquaculture industry produce in Pingtung, through the opening of cross-strait flights in 2008.

  The launch of direct cross-strait flights is an example of how cross-strait policies have brought positive changes to Taiwan, Ma said, as he continued to defend his recent proposal for a potential peace agreement with China.

  “I am surprised that my proposal of considering a peace agreement with the mainland under the ‘three noes’ policies would be distorted by the DPP as a step toward unification. I’ve promised no unification, and who am I to surrender?” he said.

  Ma reiterated his “three noes” policy — no unification, no independence and no use of force — adding that they were the principles that had helped maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” and stressed his determination to safeguard peace.

  Meanwhile, local party delegates and legislative candidates discussed the impact of the farmers’ pension debate on the elections.

  KMT Legislator Wang Chin-shih (王進士) said the government’s decision to increase the monthly subsidy paid to elderly farmers by NT$316 was being viciously attacked by the DPP, which suggested that the -increase should be NT$1,000 instead.

  Defending the policy, Ma said the Cabinet’s version was much fairer than the DPP’s and he expected the latest subsidy plan to prevent farmers or other minority groups from becoming targets of “political bidding” during future elections.

  “We need to take care of all senior citizens in this country and, for the sake of fairness, we put a lot of thought into the matter before the plan was finalized … It is the government’s responsibility to present a pension plan that is fair and reasonable,” he said.

  Subsidies for farmers older than 65 are currently NT$6,000 a month. Ma said last month that the pension will be increased to NT$6,316, with the NT$316 reflecting the 5.27 percent average rise in the consumer price index over the past four years.

  The NT$316 increase is less than the one proposed by the DPP caucus, who suggested increasing the monthly subsidy to NT$7,000.

  The KMT will hold out-of-town Central Standing Committee meetings in central and southern Taiwan this month and in Greater Kaohsiung next week.
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