ENGAGE:The KMT and the DPP are deadlocked over which television station should host a presidential debate, as both parties claim the process has been non-democratic

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 01, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu and Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporters

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday continued to urge Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to have a televised debate, saying that her insistence on letting a particular TV station host such an event runs counter to democratic principles.

“It has been customary practice for the Public Television Service (PTS, 公視) and the so-called four newspapers and one agency to jointly hold a TV debate for presidential candidates,” Chu said on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei to release his long-term care policy.

The four newspapers and one agency refer to the Chinese-language newspapers Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), Apple Daily, United Daily News and the China Times, as well as the Central News Agency.

Chu said Tsai’s attempts to interfere with the tradition on a technicality and asking other presidential candidates to attend a proposed TV debate held by a TV channel she specifically requests do not conform to democratic norms.     [FULL  STORY]