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2012 ELECTIONS: Three
vice presidential candidates meet in debate
By Mo Yan-chih and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporters
Integrity, furloughs from work and the administration’s record were among the
issues discussed yesterday in the televised debate for the three vice
presidential candidates in the Jan. 14 presidential election.
In the two-and-half-hour debate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), the Chinese
Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, touted the government’s commitment to clean
and efficient governance and said only President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
re-election could guarantee a corruption-free administration, while Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) accused the Ma
administration of failing to deliver on campaign promises and blaming all its
problems on the previous DPP administration.
People First Party (PFP) candidate Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄) accused the DPP of
putting its own ideology above everything else, and accused the Ma government of
incompetence.
Taiwan needed to develop itself into a “Switzerland of the Orient,” the
73-year-old epidemiology expert said, adding that the biotechnology, healthcare,
care services and pharmaceutical sectors were the areas on which Taiwan needed
to focus to ensure a prosperous future.
Wu rebutted Su’s criticism that the KMT administration had failed to deliver on
Ma’s first-term campaign promises and said that Taiwan was still repaying debts
incurred by a corrupt DPP government from 2000 to 2008.
“With the DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign staffed by
the protegees of jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), how can voters be
confident in ushering in a new DPP administration?” Wu repeatedly asked in the
debate.
Lin questioned why KMT heavyweights still wanted to support Ma, whose popularity
has fallen.
“Are they living in the -democratic era or the authoritarian era?” he asked,
urging people to shake off their blue or green leanings and vote for PFP
presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜). He also promised to apply his medical
expertise to help in the administration.
Following recent controversies over a luxury farmhouse and his wife’s attendance
at a birthday party where male strippers performed, Su defended his integrity
and insisted he and his wife, Hung Heng-chu (洪恆珠), would act with circumspection
and accept public scrutiny.
“Over the past 25 years since I entered the politics, I’ve instructed my staff
and family members not to take any bribes or be involved in public affairs, and
I would continue to follow that standard in the future ... Despite the rumors
against my family that have been raised during election campaign, myself and my
wife would be circumspect in all that we do and accept public scrutiny of all
that we do,” he said in response to a question posted by media representatives
during the debate.
Wu, dismissed concerns about both his own and his wife’s use of fortune-tellers
when asked whether they were superstitious.
“Going to see a fortune-teller is not a flaw, and I have not visited even one
over the past 10 years,” Wu said. “My wife has never interfered in public
affairs and that is going back to the time I was Kaohsiung mayor, and she is not
superstitious.”
Lin, whose recent remarks about being attacked by 18,750 kilohertz (kHz)
electromagnetic waves for three nights starting from Sept. 20 attracted a great
deal of attention, yesterday repeated his claim when asked by media
representatives to comment on the issue.
He said he would devote more resources to studying the impact of electromagnetic
waves on human health if elected.
“I will also conduct investigations into the government’s eavesdropping programs
and remove public fear of such acts,” he said.
However, on the issue of unemployment and unpaid leave, Wu denied ever saying
the company that invented unpaid leave should be awarded the Nobel Prize, while
defending the Ma government’s efforts to increase the starting salary for recent
graduates, which is about NT$22,000 per month.
“I was applauding the efforts of employers and workers to put an end to unpaid
leave, and said such efforts should be awarded a Nobel Prize,” he said.
Su accused Wu of blaming the high unemployment rate among the young generation
on the former DPP administration, and said Tsai and he would work to create new
jobs and strengthen vocational education for the young if elected.
Lin said Soong would seek to create more jobs for young people and devote more
effort to taking care of the disadvantaged if elected.
Responding to a proposal from a member of the media that candidates publicly
disclose all their assets at home and abroad, Su said “the future vice president
should adhere to higher standards,” adding his wife and daughter’s assets had
already been released for public scrutiny.
Lin described himself as the “cleanest” candidate, with his assets of just NT$2
million (US$66,400) in his bank accounts and a 33m² apartment on the outskirts
of Taipei.
Wu said he had disclosed his assets and would ask his sons to do the same.
However, he was more reserved when discussing his daughter’s assets, explaining
his daughter was married and she was not under his wing.
When asked to address the nation’s economy following the signing of the Economic
Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Wu denied cross-strait negotiations were
deadlocked and said the government would continue the negotiations while
protecting the nation’s interests.
Su said the DPP would accept cross-strait negotiations on the ECFA if elected,
but would not accept the lack of transparency in the process.
“We will ensure the transparency of the negotiation process [if elected], and
the rights of Taiwanese will definitely be our top priority in future
negotiations,” he said.
Lin said the PFP would seek cross-strait peace and insist on a transparent
process in all cross-strait negotiations.
In the third section of the debate, where the candidates posed direct questions
to one another, Wu asked Su his position on Taiwanese independence.
“Taiwan is a sovereign country. No one can deny this,” Su said. “The future of
the country will be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese, which could be
unification, independence or maintaining the status-quo.”
Lin said supported unification between Taiwan and China under the “one China”
principle because it was enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
In his question, Su asked Wu about the additional NT$1.3 trillion in debt
accrued under Ma’s presidency.
Su said that this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) report contradicted Ma’s
claim that increased loans taken out by his administration were used to build
national infrastructure and generate future economic benefits.
The WEF’s report lowered the nation’s ranking in fiscal matters from 69 to 91
and for infrastructure from 19 to 25.
“Where are the benefits?” Su asked.
Wu responded by saying that the country ranked 13th among 142 economies surveyed
by the WEF, which was the best-ever performance in its Global Competitiveness
Report.
“Overall, we have made progress and we also topped eight of the WEF’s
indicators, despite the decline in our ranking on fiscal issues,” Wu said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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