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KMT Presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou |
He is the son of a Chinese official who fled the communists in mainland China, yet today, as Taiwan's presidential frontrunner and former chairman of the Kuomintang, Ma Ying-jeou is vowing to forge closer ties with China as president.
Born in Hong Kong, Ma who has been attacked by the DPP as someone who may lack loyalty to Taiwan and is prepared to sell out to Beijing, insists he is "a true Taiwanese," even while he favours friendlier ties with China, the island's biggest trading partner and largest export market.
The 57 year old may be riding the coat-tails of the KMT's sweeping victory in parliamentary elections but his strong following, notably among women and the young, is also due to his deadly combination of matinee-idol looks and integrity. "Ma is good-looking and speaks English. He was educated in the United States and has an academic degree. He's a gentleman, and people in Taiwan like that," said Chang Jui-chuan, a rapper known for his political lyrics.
But don't forget the substance, he is also lobbying hard on closer China ties to revive an economy saddled with inflation and wage stagnation.
Compared to his rival Frank Hsieh who banks on his down-to-earth, "son of the soil image" the Harvard-educated Ma is more polished but some say stiff- mannered with a campaign list of specific pledges to involve more trade with China.
Ma was born in July 1950 when his father Ma He-ling, a middle-ranking KMT official, fled China, first to Hong Kong and then to Taiwan a year later.
The fluent English speaker with a Harvard law PhD degree, is said to lead a quiet family life with his wife Chou Mei-ching, who like him has a law background and who works at a bank and their two daughters.
His political career began in 1981 when he was an interpreter for Taiwan's then president Chiang Ching-kuo, who was chairman of the KMT. Later he was named vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's top China policy-making body, where he from 1991 until 1993 before becoming justice minister.
The attempts by Ma while in the justice ministry to crack down on corruption irked some conglomerates and their influential friends in the then-KMT government, costing him his job in 1996.
He switched to teaching law at National Cheng Chi University before being summoned by the party in 1998 to run as mayor of Taipei against incumbent Chen Shui-bian from the DPP, who had been in the job for four years already.
Despite the odds, Ma won the mayoral battle. The irony is that Chen's ouster meant he was free to concentrate on winning the presidency, which he did in 2000 , ending the KMT's 51-year rule.
Ma was mayor until 2006, until he was indicted for corruption, accused of misusing about 11 million Taiwan dollars (330,000 US) in special expenses. Analysts say the charge was a political ploy by the DPP, especially since a district court and later the High Court cleared Ma in 2007 of the charges.
Ma who had denied the allegations, insisting he handled the expenses the same way all other civil servants did, was able to pursue his presidential bid after being cleared by the courts.
If Ma who has been ahead in forecasts makes it as president, analsysts say better ties with China under the KMT could reap economic rewards.
Taiwan has banned direct trade and transport links with China since KMT forces, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to the island after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949.
But the economic relationship has been growing since Taipei relaxed travel restrictions in late 1987 and started liberalizing mainland-bound investments in the early 1990s.
China accounts for US$9.9 billion, or over 60%, of Taiwan's approved outward investment in 2007, according to the Investment Commission of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs but Taiwan's tight restrictions on direct two-way trade is a bane on further developments.
Scheduled direct airline flights are banned so Taiwanese businessmen flying to their factories in China now must transit through another place, usually Hong Kong. Ma wants to end the ban on the direct flights, pledging to allow Chinese investment in Taiwan's real estate market and advocates direct investment by Taiwanese financial institutions in China.
Direct flights could also help Taiwan's tourism industry in addition to cutting the time it takes business travelers to get to their factories. CNA/sf
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