By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential campaign should focus on cross-strait issues and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) proposed cross-strait peace accord, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) wrote in a column published yesterday.
“Policies, emphasis on the economy, unemployment rate and wealth gap, as well as the candidates’ competence and character are all crucial for the campaign, but it takes more than those to win,” Chen wrote.
Chen, who is serving a jail sentence for corruption, said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential campaign would be better off shifting its focus from public policy and the economy to national identity, Taiwan’s status and various cross-strait issues, since Ma’s campaign has been hurt by what Chen said was his impetuous talk of a peace pact with China within 10 years.
If Ma was bold enough to hold a referendum to ask people whether they agreed that peace talks with Beijing required a public mandate through a national referendum, Chen wrote, the referendum would likely pass the required threshold since no one would reject the idea of peace.
“Ma would definitely win the 2012 presidential election if he did that. However, he will not do it,” Chen said.
Chen also dismissed Ma’s remarks that his bearing the “cardinal sin of being a Mainlander” was the reason for widespread opposition to his peace initiative despite similar proposals by Chen and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) — which had public support. His own proposal, like those of Lee and Tsai, was based on the prerequisite of “one country on each side” of the Strait, whereas Ma has opted to follow Beijing’s “one China” principle, Chen said.
Ma’s expectation that China would accept the so-called “1992 consensus” was “naive and deceiving,” Chen added.