Houston Community News >> Ma Ying-Jeou Elected Taiwan's New President
3/23/2008-- Ma Ying-jeou said he would
like to work towards a peace treaty with Beijing, but would only do so
if China removed missiles pointed at Taiwan.
He was speaking after a comfortable victory over Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Official results gave Mr Ma an advantage of nearly 17 percentage points over Mr Hsieh.
He polled 58.45%, with Mr Hsieh getting 41.55%, on a turnout of 76%.
Mr Ma, of the Kuomintang party, had stood on a platform of economic reform and improving relations with China.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, he said that a peace treaty with China would not take priority over economic normalisation.
"Certainly we would like to start preliminary contact with the mainland on how a peace treaty could be signed," he said.
But, he added, "we already said very clearly if we are to negotiate a peace treaty they have to remove the missiles targeted against Taiwan."
Taiwan says China has about 1,000 missiles aimed at the island.
US reaction
Mr Ma indicated that he would move away from the stance of arch-nationalist Chen Shui-bian, who steps down in May.
"I will make it crystal clear that Taiwan will be a stakeholder and will not rock the boat in the region. By stakeholder, I mean peacemaker."
In Washington, President George W Bush greeted Mr Ma's victory.
"I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," he said.
Though Mr Hsieh had also pledged to build closer commercial ties with China, his approach was more cautious than his rival's.
Mr Ma now has a commanding mandate, as the Kuomintang controls two-thirds of the seats in parliament having won a sweeping victory in polls in January.
But analysts were split over how rapidly change might come, noting that Mr Ma would want to reassure voters that he was not selling out to China.
Mr Ma, 57 and educated at Harvard, put the promise of an economic revival at the centre of his election campaign.
Many Taiwanese waiting to cast their votes identified the faltering economy as their top priority.
"Our economic policy has three points," Mr Ma said. "One is to love Taiwan, another is infrastructure and industry and a third is to reach out to the whole world."
He has set ambitious growth targets - which some analysts say will not be met, unless his pledge to establish much closer economic ties with China is also fulfilled.
"We have already reached some consensus on the normalisation of economic ties, direct air links, and on allowing more Chinese tourists, and it will be relatively easy to reach an agreement on those issues," Mr Ma said after winning Saturday's poll.
China says that Taiwan is part of its territory, although the two have been separately governed since 1949, and China has never ruled out using force against the island should it move towards formal independence.
Under President Chen, ties were restricted because of his pro-independence stance.
He was speaking after a comfortable victory over Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Official results gave Mr Ma an advantage of nearly 17 percentage points over Mr Hsieh.
He polled 58.45%, with Mr Hsieh getting 41.55%, on a turnout of 76%.
Mr Ma, of the Kuomintang party, had stood on a platform of economic reform and improving relations with China.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, he said that a peace treaty with China would not take priority over economic normalisation.
"Certainly we would like to start preliminary contact with the mainland on how a peace treaty could be signed," he said.
But, he added, "we already said very clearly if we are to negotiate a peace treaty they have to remove the missiles targeted against Taiwan."
Taiwan says China has about 1,000 missiles aimed at the island.
US reaction
Mr Ma indicated that he would move away from the stance of arch-nationalist Chen Shui-bian, who steps down in May.
"I will make it crystal clear that Taiwan will be a stakeholder and will not rock the boat in the region. By stakeholder, I mean peacemaker."
In Washington, President George W Bush greeted Mr Ma's victory.
"I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," he said.
Though Mr Hsieh had also pledged to build closer commercial ties with China, his approach was more cautious than his rival's.
Mr Ma now has a commanding mandate, as the Kuomintang controls two-thirds of the seats in parliament having won a sweeping victory in polls in January.
But analysts were split over how rapidly change might come, noting that Mr Ma would want to reassure voters that he was not selling out to China.
Mr Ma, 57 and educated at Harvard, put the promise of an economic revival at the centre of his election campaign.
Many Taiwanese waiting to cast their votes identified the faltering economy as their top priority.
"Our economic policy has three points," Mr Ma said. "One is to love Taiwan, another is infrastructure and industry and a third is to reach out to the whole world."
He has set ambitious growth targets - which some analysts say will not be met, unless his pledge to establish much closer economic ties with China is also fulfilled.
"We have already reached some consensus on the normalisation of economic ties, direct air links, and on allowing more Chinese tourists, and it will be relatively easy to reach an agreement on those issues," Mr Ma said after winning Saturday's poll.
China says that Taiwan is part of its territory, although the two have been separately governed since 1949, and China has never ruled out using force against the island should it move towards formal independence.
Under President Chen, ties were restricted because of his pro-independence stance.
(Contributed by AP)