The Soong Factor

James Soong, PFP chairman and political heavyweight, interviewed in the Liberty Times (Taipei Times trans). Consider:

This reminds me of the 713 Penghu Incident. Dean [of the Yantai United Junior High School ] Chang Min-chih (張敏之) had been a member of the KMT since he was 17, but just because he stood up for the students who did not wish to join the military, he was labeled a communist spy and executed. It’s a very cruel thing. I joined the party when I was 18, and then I was dismissed from the party.

I don’t want you to think that my fate was the same as Chang’s. What I want to say is that I do not have any personal issues [with Ma], and that is the principle that I, and the PFP, hold to adamantly.

It is also this principle that I told honorary KMT chairman Wu [Poh-hsiung] (吳伯雄). At the time, some people wanted me to go back to the KMT and be an honorary chairman, but I said, “is being a dismissed party member honorary?” So, the first thing [for the KMT] to do is to clarify what happened back then.

We’re always criticizing the communists, but even they understand the concept of righting old wrongs. Besides, I wasn’t the only one who was expelled. Back in the old days, a lot of KMT elites, including Wu Rong-ming (吳容明) [and] Chin Ching-sheng (秦金生) [who were among the] best civil servants and party members of the KMT, had been expelled too.

In the introduction to the interview, Soong positions himself as the true heir to President Chiang Ching-kuo,  who is much better remembered in Taiwan than his father. Note that here he aligns himself rhetorically with KMT reformers of the past, thus playing the victim card and positioning himself as a reformer at the same time. Soong was kicked out of the KMT in November of 1999 after announcing a run at the presidency as an independent when he lost the KMT nomination to Lien Chan.

Soong, who ran as a unificationist in the 2000 election on a platform quite similar to the one Ma is currently pursuing (relations neither domestic nor international, peace treaty, EU-type commonwealth agreement, etc). He also maintains that Taiwan does not need a military since China won't attack it as long as it doesn't declare independence.

Soong was smart enough to nominate a pro-independence surgeon as his Veep in the 2000 election. If he runs seriously, he might do the same in this election. Although the pan-Green camp is hoping Soong runs, it is important to remember that he will also take votes from the Greens and independents who dislike the KMT, especially if he runs a pragmatic pro-Taiwan campaign like he is capable of doing. In the 1990s he was widely given credit for learning Taiwanese and for running the "provincial government" of Taiwan quite well, which raised his standing among the locals.

Much depends on how Soong positions himself in the campaign....

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Daily Links:

• James Manicom interviewed about South China Sea/Senkakus
• The Diplomat: China, Taiwan, reasonableness
• AEC details issues with 4th nuclear plant. It is amazing that the intelligent thing isn't done and the plant canceled. Well, not really. 
• Beijing says no missiles face Taiwan, Taipei laughs.

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