The Taipei Times reported that James Soong, the former KMT heavyweight who left the party to run against Lien Chan and Chen Shui-bian in the 2000 election, is submitting 300,000 signatures to the CEC to enter the 2012 Presidential race. AP reported that Soong announced today, Tuesday, that he is in for 2012:A second China-friendly candidate announced his intention Tuesday to run for president of Taiwan, a move that could undermine the re-election chances of the incumbent.A friend pointed out that Tsai is now inching ahead of Ma Ying-jeou in the NCCU prediction market, with shares of Tsai priced at around ~50 and rising while Ma is at ~48.6 and falling.
The announcement by veteran politician James Soong raises the prospects that enough partisans of President Ma Ying-jeou could defect to Soong to push China skeptic Tsai Ing-wen over the top in the tightly contested Jan. 14 election.
That would be a big blow to Beijing, which is quietly supporting Ma's candidacy, because it sees the Harvard-educated jurist as the best bet to create conditions for Taiwan's eventual return to the mainland.
Soong, whose is a pro-China, pro-"unification" politician like Ma, insists he is in for the whole trip even though he has virtually no chance of success. His entry into the race automatically raises the profile of his party and may give it further leverage in bargaining with the KMT -- after all, he can always leave the ticket at the last minute and ask his followers to assign their presidential vote to Ma.
Media Note: Ma is now a Harvard-educated jurist whereas Tsai Ing-wen has no similar "LSE-educated" encomium. Can't wait for the revival of the zombie "harvard educated lawyer" claim. The Financial Times hack job on Tsai was also revisited in this piece with its reference to "some Obama officials" who don't like Tsai. *sigh*
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Daily Links:
- Indigenous Industry Expo this weekend at the Flower Expo location
- NCC grilled over WantWant purchase of CNS.
- Haha. Fallout from the accusations of DPP Veep candidate Su Chia-chuan's luxury farmhouse -- he's not the only one.
- Drew's outstanding pics and discussion of his awesome ride up Simaxianshan. That slope is wicked steep.
- Lonely Planet chooses Taiwan as a top ten travel destination.
- Google with 2012 Taiwan election site on youtube chock full of vids.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.
HaHaHa !! That USAF MedEvac stunt was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
ReplyDeleteThe KMT is preemptively taking evasive measures. Song's ticket will come handy when time comes to explain away next year DPP victory.
Ma has been warned. That does not mean that Taiwan is out of that mangrove.
As long as Tsai deems herself and her constituencies "Formosan Chinese", US-occupied Japanese Formosa is teetering on the edge.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15538239
ReplyDeleteThe bias in this article is horrid.
Lonely Planet chooses Taiwan as a top ten travel destination.
ReplyDeleteBy Grace Kuo
Write to Grace Kuo at morningk@mail.gio.gov.tw
Why does a Taiwan Today writer have
a gov.tw email address?
...but most importantly, Chinese culture has been better preserved in Taiwan than in any other Chinese-speaking region,” said Liu Hsi-lin, deputy director-general of the bureau.
So Taiwan is a part of China?
Maybe Soong has realized his interests are better served being big fish in a small pond.
ReplyDelete@ yankdownunder
ReplyDeleteBecause Taiwan Today is a government information office publication. Since Ma became president it has become little more than a KMT propaganda rag.
I wrote the LP piece that the article is based on and can assure you that Liu Hsi-lin opinions are entirely his own.
I think Soong has some weird actions like he has his own interest in mind rather than putting forth continued effort in managing the Party to accomplish their ideals and goals, which should be what a political party is established to do. This is why I think he is more fit as an administrator than a leader. His current talks are not backed up by his actions in the past years.
ReplyDeleteGeorge