PFP Chairman James Soong's (
Most analysts believe Soong is the sole winner in this maneuver, as this will boost the PFP's campaign for Taipei City Council deputies while creating an impression that the KMT and Ma owe Soong credit -- a bargaining chip for Soong's 2004 presidential bid.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Trying to play down the political impact of the gesture, Soong yesterday said the purpose of the stunt was to block the DPP's attempts to divide blue-camp supporters.
"Don't presume his [Ma's] victory is secure. If we are careless and cause Ma to lose the election or win with a low share of the vote, Taiwanese people will suffer severe consequences," Soong said.
Soong said he is throwing his full support behind Ma because he has a consensus at KMT Lien Chan (連戰) and urged the public not to complicate the matter.
"As to how Ma will plan his career, I respect Ma's and the people's choices. This isn't something that can be influenced by a single individual," Soong said.
According to Soong, he will meet with Lien after the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections are over to discuss the two parties' plans for cooperating in the 2004 presidential election.
Soong surprised everyone when he knelt down to beg the audience to "support Ma Ying-jeou to win with a high number of votes" during a campaign rally Thursday night in Taipei for the PFP's candidates for city county deputies.
The move came just hours after PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
Liu's remarks, however, failed to win approval from pan-blue supporters, with many PFP candidates receiving angry phone calls Thursday afternoon.
Both Lien and Ma expressed their appreciation for Soong's support yesterday.
Lien predicted that people will see the solidarity of the opposition forces in today's polls.
"The people will display that force tomorrow and the outcome of the polls will be where our new hope lies," Lien said.
Ma explained that he could not accept the PFP's invitation because there has been strong opposition among KMT candidates running for the hotly contested seats on the Taipei City Council.
"We will cooperate with PFP city council members in the future," Ma said.
Despite the courteous speech, some KMT officials could hardly conceal their anger with Soong in private.
A high-ranking KMT official who spoke on condition of anonymity said there was "absolutely no grounds" for Soong to go down on his knees when Ma enjoys a comfortable lead over his DPP challenger, Lee Ying-yuan (
The KMT official said Soong's act could make the campaign a showdown between the pan-green and pan-blue camps and cause Ma to lose the support of most moderate and green-leaning voters -- a development Ma has been trying to avoid.
But Soong has nothing to lose from the move, as he can pacify the backlash against the PFP in the aftermath of Liu's remarks, boost the PFP's campaign and put Ma in a position where he owes him credit, the official said.
Lee, meanwhile, agreed that Soong's move will arouse the passions of voters and raise their sense of crisis, which he said will be advantageous to his campaign.
Lee called on voters to go to the polls today to make a crucial decision for the future development of Taipei.
Lee said the voters have got to know him and are satisfied with the policies that he proposed after his campaigning effort over the past months.
Lee questioned the justification of Ma setting a goal of winning 1 million votes given that the administrative efficiency, quality of city development and competitiveness of Taipei has declined during his term.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS