Taiwan presidential election: Hsieh slams opposition

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, center, and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang, exchange high fives during a press conference yesterday to announce the party's campaign rally today.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of copying his campaign ideas for its rally today.

The DPP has asked its supporters to attend a campaign rally, dubbed "Million People High Five, Come-back Win" to wear their baseball caps backward, flash the thumbs-up sign and exchange high fives.

Participants will form a 1,000km line encircling much of Taiwan, and at 3:14 pm begin a 5km march in a counter-clockwise direction to symbolize "reversing the tide" against the KMT's dominance, which claimed 81 of the 113 legislative seats in the January elections.

The time -- 3:14pm -- was chosen to mark China's enactment of the "Anti-Secession" Law on March 14, 2005.

The KMT is holding simultaneous marches throughout the country, in which participants will wear their caps backward and exchange high fives at 3:14pm.

"It's OK for them to copy [our ideas] as long as it's good for Taiwan," Hsieh at a news conference to promote its campaign rally. "But what's the point of voting for the KMT if it can only follow in the footsteps of the DPP? Why vote for a follower and an imitator?"

Hsieh's running mate, Su Tseng-chang, said the KMT had always aped the DPP whenever an election comes around, but copying and imitating were behavior that young people detest.

Su said KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou  had been following closely in the DPP's footsteps and stealing the party's ideas in the run-up to the election.

For example, after the DPP initiated a referendum to be held alongside the election on joining the UN under the name Taiwan, the KMT "jumped on the bandwagon" and proposed a referendum on regaining UN membership under the name the "Republic of China" or any other "pragmatic" name, Su said.

The KMT yesterday brushed off the DPP's criticism, saying that wearing a hat backward symbolizes an athlete's determination to win by giving his or her last best shot.

"It is a gesture well known to sports lovers. It was not invented by the DPP," KMT communication and cultural committee head Huang Yu-cheng said.