Kuomintang presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that if elected president, he will not rule out the possibility of boycotting the Beijing Olympics if China's crackdown on Tibet continues to worsen."Beijing's armed suppression of Tibet is both arbitrary and stupid and should be stopped immediately," he said.
But Ma's suggestion of an Olympics boycott drew different reactions from DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee President Tsai Chen-wei.
Hsieh said that dropping out from Beijing would be a premature move and may even sacrifice Taiwan's right to participate such an important sports event.
Tsai also expressed his opposition to Ma's proposal, saying that as head of the local Olympics committee, he disagreed that Taiwan boycott the games in Beijing.
He expressed his wish that Beijing's recent armed suppression of Tibet end as soon as possible, and that this not affect the Olympics held every four years.
Besides announcing his possible boycott of the Olympics, Ma urged China to reopen dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's religious leader.
Ma also protested Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's (溫家寶) opposition to the referendum on Taiwan's joining the United Nations that Wen expressed during a press conference held in Beijing yesterday.
The Chinese leader warned that the referendum would change Beijing's long-held policy that Taiwan and the Mainland belonged to a single China.
"His (Wen's) remark is outrageous, arrogant, foolish, and self-righteous," said Ma, saying that reentering the United Nations is a common wish of Taiwa's 23 million people. He labeled Wen's remarks as disrespectful for the opinion of Taiwan's people.
During the same press conference, Wen also offered to resume peace talks across the Straits but only under the one China principle.
In response, Ma reiterated that Taiwan's future should be decided by Taiwan's people, and that Beijing will not be able to influence their decision.
Ma stressed that he had always maintained a centrist policy and that if elected president, he would neither declare independence nor seek unification with China saying that maintaining the status quo was what Taiwanese people wanted and that this diffused cross-strait tensions.
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