First televised presidential debate to be held

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The first televised debate between ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh and his main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) rival, Ma Ying-jeou, is slated to take place after the Jan. 12 legislative elections, organizers of the debate said.

The six organizers of the televised debate -- the Public Television Service (PTS) channel, the Central News Agency (CNA), the China Times, the Liberty Times, the United Daily, and the Apple Daily -- made the joint announcement at a news conference held Tuesday.

Also present at the news conference were Hsieh's and Ma's top election campaign aides -- Lee Ying-yuan and Chan Chun-po. Hsieh also attended the news conference to underline his support for the planned debate.

However, at the news conference, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on when the debate should be held.

The organizers originally planned to hold two debates, with the first one scheduled for Jan. 26 or 27, and the second one for March 1 or 2, said Chen Shen-ching, deputy general manager of the PTS and convener of a preparatory committee for the debate.

Hsieh proposed that the first debate be held on the date chosen by the organizers, while Chan asked the organizers to help negotiate between the DPP and the KMT on selecting a date.

Prior to the news conference, Ma had insisted that the debate be held next February.

According to the organizers' plan, the two presidential candidates will answer questions from 20 selected members of the Taiwanese public and from representatives of local media.

The 20 individuals will be selected from a Web site designed by the organizers to invite the public to upload their questions in 30-second video clips, the organizers said.

Taiwanese citizens can also send their video clips on CD-ROMs to the organizers, they said, adding that the Web site also allows the DPP and the KMT to respond to the posted questions.

In addition, the organizers noted that the 20 selected people will also be invited to the televised debate to raise follow-up questions.

Through the debate, the organizers said they hope that the two candidates can take the opportunity to listen and respond to the voices of grassroots members of society, rather than engaging in a smear campaign against each other.

The presidential candidates should elaborate on their respective platforms to the public in the debate, CNA President Liu Chih-tsung said, urging such televised presidential debates to be institutionalized in the future.