The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday blasted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over his remarks in newspaper interviews that he would address political issues in cross-strait talks if he were re-elected in 2012.
“Ma’s cross-strait policy is the country’s ultimate unification with China. He showed his true colors in those newspaper interviews. Political issues addressed by Ma would be a cross-strait peace treaty framework that would lead to the two countries unifying,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told reporters.
The criticism came after Ma said in an interview with two Singapore newspapers — the Straits Times and the Chinese-language Lianhe Zaobao — on Friday that cross-strait talks would address economic issues before moving on to political issues and that the government was focusing all its current efforts on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
The two sides of the Taiwan Strait may continue to put off political issues, Ma said, and address them in 2012 if he was re-elected.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said: “How dare Ma begin to talk about a timetable for unification? With ideas like this, it’s no wonder China is carrying out polices that favor Ma and that it has begun helping Ma’s 2012 presidential campaign.”
The DPP’s Youth Development director Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said that while Ma said soon after he took office that he would not see cross-strait unification in his lifetime, he appeared to have changed his mind and was in the process of trying to bring about unification.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) shrugged off the criticism, saying the caucus would support any negotiation carried out under the precondition of reciprocity and equality.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) defended the president’s comments, saying that Ma was trying to highlight the government’s focus on economic issues.
“Even if the president were to be engaged in political negotiations with China after winning re-election, he might not necessarily discuss the issue of unification-versus-independence,” Wu said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
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