Representatives of President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), who represented Chen, rejected the pan-blue camp's proposal that the task force be established by means of a presidential emergency decree.
The negotiators agreed to consider the possibility of a special law being passed by the Legislative Yuan that would give the task force the legal power to investigate. Chiou said he would convey the idea to Chen for consideration.
The goal of yesterday's meeting at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel in Taipei was to hammer out the terms of a planned meeting between Chen, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chen defeated the joint Lien-Soong presidential ticket in the March 20 election by a margin of less than 30,000 votes. Lien refused to concede defeat, and has made claims about voting irregularities, although he has not been able to produce proof. He has also raised questions about the attack on Chen on the eve of the election, saying that the launch of the national security mechanism following the shooting had prevented a large number of military personnel from voting.
Lien and Soong requested a meeting with Chen to discuss their demands for an immediate ballot recount, the establishment of the task force to investigate the assassination attempt, and a probe into the activation of the national security mechanism after the shooting. Chen on Saturday night agreed to a meeting with them without any precondition.
At yesterday's meeting, Lien was represented by KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正). PFP Secretary-General Tsai Chung-hsiung (蔡鐘雄) represented Soong.
The meeting, which lasted about an hour, started off with both sides locking horns over what position Chen would hold at a meeting with Lien and Soong.
Lin and Tsai stressed that the alliance's appeals revolved around Chen and Lien as presidential candidates. They insisted that Chen should meet Lien and Soong in his capacity as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman and presidential candidate.
Chiou held firm that Chen would have to meet Lien and Soong in his capacity as president, because he was the only one who could represent the government in addressing the alliance's appeals.
Failing to reach agreement on this matter, both parties resolved to stick to their own interpretation of Chen's capacity and moved on to negotiations about pan-blue camp's appeals.
There was no disagreement about the demand to have an immediate recount. Chiou reiterated Chen's willingness to carry out a judicial recount and that he would accept the result whether or not it is in his favor.
Chiou also repeated that Chen welcomes any expert recommended by the pan-blue alliance as part of the task force investigating the assassination, but said it would be inappropriate to assemble the task force by declaring a state of emergency.
Nonetheless, he said, Chen would agree to an emergency decree if there were a legal reason for doing so.
In response to the pan-blues' demand for the creation of a commission to determine whether the activation of the national security mechanism had resulted in a large number of military personnel being unable to vote, Chiou said that such a commission could be formed under the authority of the Legislative Yuan.
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