Vice President Annette Lu, Premier Su Tseng-chang, former Premier Frank Hsieh, and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun all embraced the party line that Taiwan is already an independent sovereign country which must not be unified with China.

It was one of few issues that they concurred during a DPP-organized forum for the hopefuls to present their platforms.

Yu said there is an independent country on either side of the Taiwan Strait. “Unification is definitely not an option,” he stressed.

Su said he personally does not approve unification, but the future of Taiwan has to be determined by the people.

Hsieh noted that although the Kuomintang (KMT) also supports the idea of settling Taiwan’s status through self-determination, the main opposition party still advocates unification, which should make it easy for voters to determine which party they will vote for.

Lu said Taiwan has been a sovereign country since the first popular presidential election took place in 1996.

Another point they agreed upon with one another also concerned a long-standing DPP policy to have KMT’s allegedly ill-gotten assets seized.

The candidates said the campaign to recover the KMT assets for the nation must continue.

They also agreed that the government should give top priority to the environment when assessing a controversial proposal to build a highway linking the town of Suao in Ilan County, and the county of Hualien along the east coast.

But the highway issue, which has fueled escalating infighting between the candidates, sent Su and Hsieh trading verbal blows during the forum, despite President Chen Shui-bian’s call Friday that all the hopefuls stop attacking one another for the sake of party unity.

The argument centered around accusations that Hsieh already had allocated a budget for the highway before Su succeeded him as premier.

Su claimed that Hsieh did allocate the budget, but denied having done so.

“I’ve always insisted that environmental impact assessment must be completed before the Suao-Hualien highway can be built,” said Su. “This is a demonstration of my sense of responsibility.”

“Those eyeing the presidency must have the sense of responsibility. Otherwise President Chen Shui-bian would be very embarrassed,” Su stressed.

But Hsieh said that Su was making a mistake. “I didn’t allocate the budget,” Hsieh said. “You have to do your homework (checking the facts).”

Hsieh also said Su was seemingly trying to provoke a conflict between himself and the president. In response to the recent war of words marring the primary, Lu urged all party members to set aside their factional interests and stop manipulating the media.

“We have to devote wholeheartedly to Taiwan,” said Lu.

Yu said the DPP must stay united in order to win the 2008 presidential poll.

“I’m confident that I will win the primary. But if I lose the race, I will do my best to assist the campaign of the winner,” Yu said.

Meanwhile, former Premier Chang Chun-hsiung said he has talked to former DPP Chairman Lin Yi-hsiung, who is said to be mounting an independent presidential campaign.

But Chang declined to reveal the contents of their talk.

Chang said his analyses of past elections show that the DPP would win when its members were united.

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