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Taiwan presidential rivals trade barbs in last debate
Taiwan's presidential election rivals traded accusations over the stuttering economy and relations with China as they faced off Sunday in their last head-to-head debate before the March 22 vote.

With former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Kuomintang holding an apparently unassailable lead in opinion polls, the televised encounter was seen as one of the last chances for rival Frank Hsieh to make inroads.

Ma's campaign strategy has focused on ways to revive the economy, using the same promises of growth and jobs that propelled the KMT to a sweeping victory in January parliamentary elections.

He said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Hsieh belongs to, was to blame for the sluggishness of the economy over the past eight years.

"It has come to the point that people cannot stand it any more," he said.

"Please recall the 80 percent approval rate when Chen Shui-bian was first elected in 2000.
"People had a very high expectation on the DPP... but eight years later, people's dreams have burst... the DPP owes the people an apology," Ma said.

Outgoing Chen of the DPP was elected president in 2000, ending the KMT's 51-year grip on power, and was re-elected in 2004.

Ma pledged to revitalise the economy by allowing mainland Chinese to invest in the local property market, introducing more Chinese tourists and launching direct transport links with the mainland, which has been cut off since 1949 when Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war.

Ma is in favour of closer ties with China, which sees the island nation as part of its territory awaiting reunification -- by force if necessary -- while Hsieh and the DPP lean toward independence.

The KMT candidate also guaranteed to boost domestic demand by investing up to four trillion Taiwan dollars (129.8 million US) on various development projects.

"I do agree on opening up chartered flights, allowing more Chinese tourists and things like that," Hsieh retorted, "but Taiwan's sovereignty must not be sacrificed."

He said he was strongly opposed to Ma's proposal of a "common market" with China -- closer ties in spheres such as trade, travel and employment -- and said that recognising Chinese qualifications would threaten the jobs of Taiwanese workers.

"No national leader should rest the hopes of his country on the 'goodwill' of another country," particularly one hostile to Taiwan, he added, noting that China had more than 1,000 missiles pointing toward the island.

While Ma says his "common market" would help revitalise the economy, a key concern for voters, Hsieh insists it would be tantamount to creating a single "China market" that would undermine Taiwan's sovereignty.

"Please vote for Ma if you favour the 'one China common market.' Otherwise, please vote for me," Hsieh said.

The latest opinion poll published late Saturday -- one of the last allowed before the election -- showed Ma increasing his lead over Hsieh.

While Ma saw his support unchanged at 54 percent from a week earlier, Hsieh slipped two points to 28 percent, according to the survey carried out by the television network TVBS.

Forty percent of those questioned said they favoured Ma's proposed "common market" with China, with 28 percent against.

To beef up his theme of economic renewal, Ma has promised annual growth of six percent, up from the currently estimated 4.5 percent, and a three percent drop in unemployment within eight years.

March 22 will also see Taiwanese vote on referendums on joining the United Nations. It lost its seat to China in 1971 and has tried ever since to return, only to be blocked by Beijing.