A controversy over US residency is unlikely to derail Taiwan presidential frontrunner Ma Ying-jeou's campaign despite raising questions about his ability to handle a crisis, analysts said.
Ma, the opposition Kuomintang candidate for the March 22 presidential poll, appeared last week to backtrack on his response to a political rival's attack about his loyalty to the island.
Frank Hsieh, the candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Sunday questioned Ma about his allegiance to Taiwan, saying his rival had a green card which grants US residency to foreigners.
Ma, whose party won the January 12 parliamentary polls in a landslide, denied that he or his family had a green card, but on Monday said that he and his wife had needed one to study in the United States in the 1970s.
"Although I had applied for a US green card, it became void a long time ago," Ma, a former Taipei mayor and justice minister, told a press conference, saying that he had not lied with his earlier comments.
"A green card is simply a US travel and residence document. It has nothing to do with the alleged loyalty problem."
Ma was born in Hong Kong, which has led some to call him a "mainlander" who could potentially sacrifice Taiwan's interests for those of rival China.
Analysts said the issue was unlikely to spiral into a crisis that would threaten Ma's election bid.
"The solid support of Ma is not likely to shatter due to his image as an honest politician that is buried deep in the minds of many people," said Chang Ya-chung, political science professor of National Taiwan University. "People will lose interest in the issue before long."
An opinion poll taken after the controversy broke showed support slipped for Ma, who has held a comfortable lead over Hsieh.
Fifty-three percent of those surveyed by cable television network TVBS news network said they would vote for Ma if the election was held now, a decline of three percent from the last poll taken after the January 12 parliamentary vote.
But 45 percent of the 1,073 people surveyed on Tuesday said they did not believe the issue would harm Ma's presidential bid.
"The negative impact will not last long as a number of people think owning a green card is no big deal," said Lee Shiao-feng, a professor of politics at National Taipei University of Education.
Lee also said Ma would escape lightly from the controversy, blaming local media for failing to pursue the story more vigorously.
Liu Bih-rong, a political science professor at Soochow University, said the episode showed Ma's failure to properly deal with a potential crisis.
"The issue underscored Ma's lack of experience in handling crisis. He should have explained it in detail from the beginning, after all, people would realise that the new issue is simply campaign rhetoric," he said.
If the subject continued to headline campaigning -- Hsieh kept up his attacks Thursday on the issue -- Ma's "supporters could feel frustrated," Liu said.
Liu said Ma's campaigning was pushed "off track" by the spat and suggested he get back the initiative by, for instance, telling voters what reforms his party would make in the KMT-dominated new parliament.
Ma favours closer economic ties with Beijing to spur growth, a key issue for voters, while Hsieh's DPP has angered Beijing with its pro-independence rhetoric.