Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has repeated his 'three nos' pledge - no unification, no independence and no use of force - in a move to counter accusations that he was in favour of cross-strait unification.
In the latest political snag for Mr Ma, who took office barely two months ago, the opposition accused the president from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang yesterday of trying to sell out to the mainland.
The accusation was sparked by a comment by KMT vice-chairman John Kuan Chung, who was reported to have said 'unification will take care of itself if the KMT remains the ruling party for a long time'. He reportedly made the remark this month at a seminar in the mainland city of Wuhan , after a Taiwanese newspaper found it reported in Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper.
The report gave ammunition to the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party to accuse Mr Ma of lying about his 'three nos' promise. The KMT vice-chairman's comment, they said, reflected Mr Ma's true stand.
'The relationship between Chung and Ma Ying-jeou is very close,' DPP legislator Wong Chin-chu said. 'So what Kuan Chung said represents the true stand of Ma Ying-jeou towards eventual unification.'
DPP legislative caucus head Lai Ching-te said Mr Ma had lied in his pledge of no unification. The government's policy of opening up to the mainland economically was really 'to pave the way for unification between Taiwan and China'.
Mr Kuan flatly denied yesterday saying anything about unification: 'They were not my words at all.'
