Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) revealed her interest in running for the presidency again in 2016 for the first time since losing in January’s presidential election, saying in a television interview aired last night that she would make herself an “option.”
“As a politician, I will continue to make myself an option,” Tsai said in response to a question on whether she plans to run again in four years in an interview with Sanlih television, the first she has given since the election.
The two-hour interview was conducted on Thursday.
Tsai addressed a wide range of recent issues that have caused social instability and said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should stop behaving as a one-man show because one person alone can neither represent his own party nor the entire nation.
Ma’s decision-making process reflects that his mind is still set in the framework of the former authoritarian regime, she said.
In spite of Ma proclaiming his admiration and respect for former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) — who was described by some as “always listening to the people’s voice” — Tsai said that the governance, teams and political environment of Ma and Chiang’s respective reigns differed drastically.
Ma has done the opposite of Chiang by insisting on raising the prices of fuel and electricity as well as levying a securities tax, she said.
The president caved in to foreign pressure in the US beef import controversy and transferred domestic pressure, such as the state-run companies’ demand to raise fuel and electricity prices, onto the public without seeking real solutions to either issue.
“People found out that this government is no longer trustworthy,” Tsai said.
On Ma’s proposal of “one country, two areas (一國兩區),” Tsai said Ma has caused great harm to Taiwan’s national status through his misinterpretation of the Constitution.
Ma has reformulated the design of “Taiwan and Mainland areas,” as stipulated in the Constitution, into his own version of relations between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China, she said.
The former chairperson said that the 40 DPP legislators have done “quite well” in the Legislative Yuan with their persistent monitoring of the administrative branch.
Tsai expected the DPP to continue to represent the people’s true voice, as it has always done.
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