Both parties wooing int'l media ahead of polls

The DPP's Hsiao Bi-khim and KMT's Ho Szu-yin made the comments during a roundtable discussion organized by the Government Information Office and Taipei-based English-language radio station ICRT, in the company of various Taiwan scholars and several foreign journalists covering the election.

Hsiao, the director of the party's department of International Affairs and former Taipei lawmaker, stated Hsieh's campaign focused on "policy, character and competence."

She noted the direction of both candidates' policy has gradually become more moderate leading up to the elections, with Hsieh calling Ma's competence into question over whether he can follow-through with his promises.

According to Hsiao, Hsieh has so far tried to use his party's stinging defeat in the island's January legislative elections this year to "stage a comeback." The DPP, garnering 37 percent of votes, came out of the heated campaigning with less than a quarter of the legislative seats.

Hsiao also cited the three-quarter legislative majority held by the KMT as she made parallel references between the past dictatorship of the KMT until the early 90s, with what she called "anxieties about one-party domination in Taiwan."

Under a DPP president, the Taiwan people would have the chance to "reverse the tide," and maintain a "balance of power," stating that, Hsieh's first order of business would be to reconcile the partisan squabbles by the people, for whom "both parties must take responsibility," Hsiao said.

Though all panel members agreed on the dominance of cross-strait relations, the factor was played down as not being exclusive in this election by Alex Huang, director of American Studies at Tam-Kang University, who argued China has always taken the leading position amongst Taiwan's election concerns.

However, Hsiao said Hsieh was using the issue to his advantage by depicting the "rise of China," as a threat to Taiwan sovereignty by putting increasing pressure on Taiwan, "stifling its voice and suffocating its breathing space."

On the other hand, Ho, a professor of political science at National Chengchi University, stressed that Ma is pushing for the revival of Taiwan's economy, an end to government corruption and gradual rapprochement with China.

"The common market concept is based on the European experience," he said, dismissing the fear that millions of unemployed Chinese would rush into Taiwan as a result of Ma's policies.

He noted that "China is a constant rather than a variable in Taiwan politics," and stressed that the KMT hopeful would strive to keep the national anthem, flag and country's official title: the Republic of China (ROC).

"Voters have already made their mind," added the KMT spokesperson, who argued that young voters will play an important role in the election, contrary to recent incidents in Tibet.

If Ma Ying-jeou were elected on Saturday, Ho believes the new president would focus on rebuilding the strained relationship with the United States in the first place, before sending a "signal" to Beijing.

Responding to a foreign reporter's inquiries on how both candidates would exercise leadership without infringing on the opposite party's rights, in the wake of two recent incidents during which party officials spoke or took initiatives that damaged the image of their respective presidential hopefuls, Ho said jokingly, "In a democracy you don't control people, you just try to control damage."