Lin Sheng-Fen (
Ma Ying-jeou (
Frank Hsieh (
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TAIPEI ASSOCIATION OF PHOTOJOURNALISTS
George Shuang (項國寧), spokesman of the United Daily News Group: Mr Hsieh, you proposed that Taiwan constitutionally change its name to "Taiwan." Does that contradict your cross-strait policy to reconcile, coexist, and prosper with China? In the event that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can't be opposed politically while prospering together economically, how would you execute your cross-strait policies?
Mr Ma, please describe your "anti-Communist but not anti-China" position, and would it affect cross-strait economic developments negatively?
Hsieh: Taiwan is currently an independent and sovereign state. However, our Constitution still refers to the two sides of the strait as the "Mainland region" and the "Taiwan region" -- a "one China" framework.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Now we face a choice. Should we modify our Constitution to match our current independent state, or alter our current state to match the Constitution and allow the de facto independence to change to a de facto unification?
Happiness and prosperity should be held within one's own hands. We need to educate our people on the contradiction between our Constitution and our reality.
We cannot, because of the opposition of any country, give up our status as a sovereign country or member in the international community ? To stabilize Asia and foster cross-strait interaction, we should negotiate and converse with China.
[My policy] is therefore not contradictory -- we are not making the Chinese people or government our enemies, but we have a duty to maintain the rights of Taiwanese people. We have to prove that there is a possibility for us to amend the Constitution so that we have a bargaining chip for negotiation. If we, as Mr Ma suggested, announced that we were not independent, then why is he running for president?
Ma: Mr Hsieh's policies contradict themselves; they are election talk that cannot be achieved. President Chen's push for a referendum to join the UN caused an international storm.
I do not think Mr Hsieh is more competent than President Chen. My cross-strait policy is simple. During my term I will not talk [with China] about unification, I will not support de jure independence, and I will not support non-peaceful ways to tackle the Taiwan issue.
We should maintain the current situation and we do not need to amend the Constitution to push for democracy.
Yu Kuo-chi (俞國基), vice president of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper): Mr Ma's economic platform is mainly about opening up [Taiwan] to China. How would you establish a risk management mechanism while opening up to China to prevent Taiwan from suffering from negative impact similar to that from the subprime mortgage crisis? If domestic enterprises continue to relocate to China, this will inevitably result in the closure of many factories and unemployment. What is Mr Ma's strategy to deal with the situation? If Chinese investors are allowed to invest in Taiwan, how will you prevent them from making investments based on political motives?
Ma: I need to clarify that our economic platform is not just about opening up to China, but includes three main parts. First, our "i-Taiwan 12 projects" are meant to boost domestic demand. Through increasing domestic demand, we hope to increase Taiwan's [domestic] investment and consumption and people's income.
Second, we hope to reform traditional industry. We hope to turn Taiwan into a global innovation center. Industry that can innovate will be granted tax relief. We need to develop four major service industries: finance, tourism, medicine and culture. In terms of the financial industry, we hope to make Taiwan a global center to pool resources and an asset management center in the Asia-Pacific region.
Third, we would like to connect [Taiwan] to the world. We hope to sign free-trade agreements with the US, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN. Our policy to open up Taiwan to China also comes with some restrictions. We would relax the 40 percent investment cap to an appropriate degree. If [enterprises] base their headquarters in Taiwan, there is no need for us to constrain their investment [proportion in China], but we need to set restrictions on key technology being taken to China.
We will also sign comprehensive economic cooperation agreements with China, including establishing a dispute resolution mechanism. We hope to provide the best environment for different industries to develop, but companies should decide where they would like to invest.
Last, if Chinese investors would like to invest in real estate here, they will be banned from transferring the ownership of the real estate within five years of purchase.
Hsieh: Globalization contributes to an M-shape society, insufficient domestic demand and a widening gap between the rich and the poor. Ma said we should rely on China for everything to solve these problems, but I believe we should reform our tax system and lower inheritance tax.
I would like to improve our investment environment so that small and medium-size companies will return to invest in the nation. It is important to develop tourism from China, but we should not completely depend on China. I am fully opposed to allowing Chinese investors to speculate in real estate [here].
Liu Chih-tsung (劉志聰), president of the Central News Agency: The US Department of Defense said China's developing missile fleet is continuing to target Taiwan ? Although Taiwan wants peace, do you support the maintenance of necessary armed forces and the development of offensive weapons?
Please demonstrate your determination to defend Taiwan with your past achievements and future aspirations. Same questions to Mr Ma, too.
Hsieh: Before we have the capacity for negotiation we need to be able to defend ourselves, so we should purchase defensive weapons. However, I am against offensive weapons because they do not comply with global trends and would cause greater tension in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (
But we cannot give up our dignity or our opportunity to become a sovereign state in the international community ? and what our ancestors fought for over the past 400 years.
I have never been absent when Taiwan needed me. Taiwan is my only choice -- my family members don't possess foreign passports; my son is serving the army in Matsu.
In the past, during democratic movements, I proposed that Taiwan join the UN ? that the congress be reelected ? that the president be elected by the people. At that time Ma opposed [all of this]. Historically, Ma has been standing on the wrong side.
Though I have paid my price and been prosecuted, I have no regrets.
Ma: Taiwan should maintain a small but strong national defense, and continue to purchase weapons from the US at a budget no lower than 3 percent of our GDP -- this figure was reached in only one of the eight years that the DPP has been ruling.
Although I do not believe that weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear weapons, should be developed, other types should be evaluated.
I object to negotiating with China unconditionally; we should pursue peace, dignity and prosperity without compromise.
Ma Wei-min (馬維敏), executive editor-in-chief of the Apple Daily: Mr Ma, you have said you'd like to improve cross-strait relations in a bid to solve our diplomatic problems. But as China's "one China" policy remains unrelaxed, how are you going to persuade China to give up its oppression against Taiwan?
What would you do if negotiations succeeded, or if they failed? If an ally threatens to sever ties with us unless we give it a large sum, would you pay the money or accept losing an ally?
Ma: The DPP's diplomatic policy over the past eight years has contributed to our loss of nine allies. The mutual trust between us and many allies has also been compromised because of [the DPP's] WHO and UN bids.
If I am elected, providing foreign aid would still be very important because many of our allies are relatively economically disadvantaged. But we should offer economic, trade and humanitarian aid and prevent politicians of those countries from pocketing the money.
We have to understand that China is the cause of our diplomatic difficulties. We need to negotiate with China on this issue. What I propose is a workable diplomacy platform. We need to strike a balance between diplomatic and cross-strait policies.
I understand the difficulty because I have dealt with international affairs for more than 30 years.
But if we continue to provoke [other countries], we will suffer even more. We hope to enter the WHO, IMF and the World Bank as an observer first.
Hsieh: China's oppression against us will continue no matter which party comes into power. We should therefore unite instead of blaming ourselves. We don't need the type of ally that would obviously extort us, but we should not regard all foreign aid as checkbook diplomacy.
Taiwan should establish more connections with NGOs, opposition parties and public sectors of other countries. Of course we can continuously communicate with China, but Mr Ma's workable diplomacy platform presents no concrete methods, instead relying on Communist China's good will.
Lin: The Ministry of Education recently stirred up a lot of controversy with several "de-Sinification" and "de-Chiang" [Kai-shek (蔣介石)] incidents. If you propose reconciliation and coexistence with China, would you continue to push for these efforts in education and culture? Mr Ma, how would you resolve the tension and opposition in the educational system in terms of cultural values?
Hsieh: We should not tolerate oppression and injustice for the purpose of reconciliation; nor should we undermine ourselves so that we can coexist with [China].
In the past, dialects such as Taiwanese, Hakka and Aboriginal languages were oppressed and erased under KMT rule. In that era, radical methods for survival could be rationalized.
However, Taiwan is now a diverse society -- no talks of either unification or independence would get anyone thrown in jail. Therefore, radical movements should not be rationalized. Chinese culture has become part of Taiwanese culture; it would be impossible to stamp it out, and I would not attempt that if elected.
Ma: I would not execute events like dazhong zhizheng (
Hsiang: There is a "one China" framework in our Constitution. Mr Ma, would your pursuit of no unification, no independence and no use of force contradict the framework? How would you deal with the National Unification Guidelines and the National Unification Council, which have both been frozen? Mr Hsieh, would you uphold President Chen's four noes pledges?
Ma: Our Constitution does have a "one China" framework because there was only one China when the Constitution was written. My idea of no unification, no independence and no use of force does not contradict the spirit of the Constitution.
As for the issue of National Unification Guidelines and the National Unification Council, they are public policy and could be put to plebiscite to decide whether they should exist to handle cross-strait affairs. Although President Chen reiterated the four noes in 2000 and 2004, in actuality, they were not implemented, but instead changed every step of the way, drawing concerns from the US and other allies and creating diplomatic problems.
The Republic of China (ROC) is an independent sovereign state, but other countries would still react strongly if our policy contradicted their interests. As head of the state, [I] would deal with it smoothly according to the Constitution.
Hsieh: China did not respond to President Chen's four noes pledges with goodwill. Some changes were made to the pledges because we were frustrated by China's lack of goodwill. It is very strange [for Ma] not to condemn China, but to blame us.
I have said publicly that if I am elected, I would not hold a referendum on Taiwan independence because Taiwan is in fact independent. But I will not make pledges to other countries because dealing with cross-strait relations requires self-protection, sincerity and flexibility as well as determination.
Yu: Amid a global shortage of resources, inflation is inevitable, and according to four major banks the depression could last four years -- exactly the length of your presidential terms. How would you tackle the inflation crisis?
Hsieh: I oppose the strategy to increase the GDP with more [national development projects]. The tactic worked in the past when resources were abundant, but in today's situation it would only aggravate inflation. Mr Ma's "love Taiwan 12 major constructions" would require NT$4 trillion [US$130.25 billion] -- where would the money come from?
Mr Ma said our 10 national construction projects exemplified the benefits of increasing domestic demand [as a means to help the economy], but the construction projects also coincided with an oil crisis and caused a 13 percent inflation rate. The NT$4 trillion would become debt for our future generations.
Under Mr Ma, Taipei's real estate prices skyrocketed -- it should be against one's conscience to open that market to Chinese investors, though many construction companies support it. The policy would wrong young people and blue collar workers who can't afford houses, and turn the middle class into the new poor. Instead, we should evenly develop the economy.
Ma: In times when oil prices rise, we have a more urgent need to increase domestic demand. Inflation comes from increasing oil prices. We cannot control oil prices, so we need to create new demand to increase investment, consumption and the GDP; we need to combat inflation with increased income.
Liu: Beijing insists that cross-strait negotiation should be held under the condition of a "one China" framework and the idea of one nation, with two different systems. Do you agree and would you agree to hold negotiations between the ROC and the People's Republic of China under a reciprocal precondition? How are you going to carry out your cross-strait policy if you do not accept negotiations under [the] "one China" framework?
Ma: I need to remind everyone that China and Taiwan held negotiations 24 times when the KMT was in power. Four agreements were reached after the meeting between Koo Chen-fu (
The '92 consensus we reached with China in 1992 can also serve as a basis for negotiations. As of now we have not heard that mainland China is against "one China with both sides having its own interpretation." Negotiation on equal footing is also acceptable to the other side.
The one China is the ROC. If the other side didn't accept it, we would not negotiate. I will not sacrifice the ROC's dignity if I am elected.
Hsieh: When I was premier, I negotiated agreements on cross-strait charter flights. We did make achievements, but we did not brag about it.
What Mr Ma just said was contradictory. He said he would hold cross-strait direct link negotiations within one year, but how do you know that China would agree?
Ma Wei-min: In Taiwan the people place much emphasis on a president's ability to self-reflect on your policies. List three qualities you think would make you be the better president.
Hsieh: In the DPP's earlier days we were a convergence of all social movements including women's, cultural, farmer's and labor rights. But after becoming the ruling party, the DPP has dissociated itself with civil society and sometimes failed to deliver the ideals we had before -- this is wrong.
If elected, I would reconnect with civil society. As a president ... I cannot afford any mistakes. I would walk on tread carefully and act according to public consent.
Second, the DPP made a mistake while a minority in the legislature, not realizing that many policies could not be passed ? and thus disappointed the people. Though we were opposed by the party at-large, the people would place the responsibility on the government.
Last, in terms of human resource management, DPP officials serve terms that are too short.
Ma: I should listen to the people more. If elected, I would continue to travel all over Taiwan and listen to the people.
I would push for core Taiwanese values like kindness, hard work, tolerance, ambition and practicality, and use these values to evaluate myself. Last, as president I would advise my party on ways it could improve itself.
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