Ma repeats ‘mutual non-denial’ policy

Besides, the president-elect acknowledged he would welcome a pair of giant pandas offered by China to Taiwan people right after his inauguration, slated for May 20.

"We [have] already prepared our zoo for that purpose... we were ready, but because of political intervention we were not able to do that," he said.

Ma was mayor of Taipei in 2005 when China offered to send pandas to Taiwan as goodwill ambassadors following a historic visit to the mainland by former Vice President Lien Chan.

The male and female pandas on offer are named "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan," which together mean "unite."

However, then Premier Frank Hsieh eventually rejected the offer in 2006, amid pressure from radical DPP supporters who branded the animals a propaganda ploy.

"In the future we would certainly welcome" the animals, Ma said.

China has a long tradition of offering pandas as a way to soften ties with foreign governments, including the United States (1972) and the United Kingdom (1974).

On the other hand, Ma Ying-jeou restated that he would look over Chinese suppression of Tibetan protesters carefully in the upcoming months.

"If I become president ... well, I will become president," he told the laughing audience, he would continue on monitoring China's human rights record.

"If the situation in Tibet worsens, we would consider the possibility of not sending athletes to the Games," added the president-elect, who said he has attended each commemoration events of the bloody crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square since June 4, 1989.

"I did this out of a deep commitment to human rights," he continued.

1|2|3|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email