James Soong

James Chu-yu Soong (宋楚瑜 Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'u-yü; pinyin: Sòng Chǔyú; born March 16, 1942) is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. He founded and chairs the People First Party, which favors eventual Chinese reunification.

Political ideology

In the middle of the SARS endemic in May 2003, he slashed the administration of not being able to participate WHO and thus lead to the danger in public health. Subsequently, he promised to the public that if elected, he will push for participation in WHO under the principle Under the Roof of One China. In his Under the Roof of One China priciple, he will not challenge the One China policy set by PRC, he added. However, this proposal enhanced the public perception of "selling out" Taiwan toward him and his opponents questioned how he can protect Taiwan's sovereignty and accept the Taiwan to be part of China at the same time. In order to quench this negative image, Soong and his running mate Lien made a unexpected change of direction in their cross strait policy by announcing that they would drop unification as the ultimate goal in their cross strait policy in an international press conference during the 2004 presidient election race. They further explained that they even would not exclude the possibility of final independence of Taiwan. However, his opponents still hold speculative eye in Soong's true intention. His mainland origins also plagued him in the 2004 election.

Related Topics:
SARS - Under the Roof of One China - One China - PRC

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Soong has been a staunch opponent of Taiwan independence. He publicly opposed Taiwanese language education at his early political life and criticize multi-lingual education would lead to "Lebanonization of languages" and create communication chaos in the nation. He also criticized President Chen for staging a referendum. He strongly opposed the major military weapon procurement from US and actively participated the anti-weapon-purchase protests. He maintained the purchase would be part of military race across the strait and would not enhance Taiwan's ability in self-defense.

Related Topics:
Taiwan independence - Lebanonization - Referendum

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His base of support includes strong supporters of Chinese reunification, rural voters, particularly in northern and eastern Taiwan, who were grateful for the selective economic development undertaken while he was governor, and urban middle class voters who see him as a cleaner alternative to the KMT. Soong is well known for using his body language, publicly kneeling and shedding tears, as a gesture to plead for constituency support. Though many criticize it to be histrionic, most of Soong's supporters see it to be candid and sincere.

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