People First Party (PFP) Chairman and presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) had harsh words on Friday for a former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) official who portrayed him in a less-than-flattering light in a 2006 cable recently leaked by WikiLeaks.
The cable in question, which was sent from AIT’s Taipei office on Nov. 29, 2006, and signed by then-director Stephen Young, depicted Soong as trying to make a political deal before the Taipei mayoral election, which was held on Dec. 9 that year.
“Soong apparently hoped but failed to trade his support for Ma’s [Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)] 2008 presidential bid in return for Ma’s agreement to support Soong as the ‘pan-blue’ Taipei mayoral candidate,” the cable read. “Rumors continue to circulate that Soong might withdraw from the race if Ma and the KMT agree to reserve certain legislative districts for PFP candidates in 2007.”
In describing Soong’s failure to generate campaign momentum, the cable said it “may reflect widespread public perceptions that he is a spoiler and a political opportunist.”
Soong finished far behind winner Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with just over 4 percent of the vote.
After the cable was played up in the local media, the veteran politician responded on Friday that Young was “lousy” and “rude,” and denied having tried to make any deal ahead of the 2006 election.
Soong hinted that the cables reflected a grudge Young had against him.
“Many of the cables do not conform to reality and this Mr. Stephan Young is especially lousy and an ugly American because he tried to threaten the PFP into supporting arms purchases,” Soong said. “However, the PFP remained the political party most opposed to big ticket military purchases. They wanted us to buy Kidd frigates. How could I agree? So he [Young] was very impolite to me and I was very impolite to him.”
Soong also said he requested that the US conduct a probe into the controversial election-eve shooting in 2004 in which then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was injured while canvassing for votes in Tainan.
Chen won the election the next day by a razor-thin margin and Soong, who was the vice presidential candidate on the losing ticket with Lien Chan (連戰), along with others, remained suspicious about the shooting, believing it cost them the election.
Soong said US officials openly promised him and Lien that an investigation committee would be formed, but failed to deliver.
However, the PFP chairman said he did not want to engage in a war of words.
“It is not important to be a senior official. What is important is to serve the people,” he added.
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