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DPP slams
presidential address
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) assertion that “cross-strait relations are not
state-to-state relations” and the ignoring of his role in the ongoing political
instability in his Double Ten National Day address showed he is a “cold-blooded”
and incompetent national leader, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said
yesterday.
“The Taiwanese wanted to know how Ma planned to resolve the current political
gridlock, which in fact was created by Ma himself, but the president not only
ignored the issue altogether, but also made more pledges,” DPP spokesperson Wang
Min-sheng (王閔生) said.
“Given Ma’s poor record of keeping his promises, who is going to believe him,”
Wang added.
Ma’s emphasis on civil society and assistance to the underprivileged was ironic
given that he completely ignored civic groups protesting near the Presidential
Office Building over the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement, the
construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市)
Gongliao District (貢寮) and the amendment of the Referendum Act (公投法), Wang said.
Wang raised serious concerns about Ma’s comments about cross-strait relations
and the service trade pact.
By stressing non state-to-state relations and that both sides of the Taiwan
Strait belong to Zhonghua Minzu (中華民族), Ma has placed his own ideology, benefits
and presidential legacy above the interests of the Taiwanese and the DPP would
never accept the “one China” ideology, he said, adding that, on the economic
front, Ma has paid more lip service than making substantial progress.
Ma failed to mention the current political impasse in his speech, but what was
more astonishing was that he described himself as “a president who has always
upheld the Constitution,” Wang said.
Ma’s address sounded like a piece for a composition competition, DPP caucus whip
Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said, adding that, with an approval rating of 9.2 percent,
the president is “no longer qualified as a decision-maker on cross-strait
relations.”
Ma has distanced himself from the people with his failure to realize what had
led to the current political instability and with the way he recounted the
insignificant achievements of his administration in the speech, DPP Legislator
Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.
While Ma did not directly mention the service trade pact, which is awaiting
screening in the legislature, he addressed the free-trade issue at length in his
speech, which appeared to be hinting that opposition to the cross-strait pact
would lead to seclusion and isolationism, Lee said.
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