Tue, Dec 13, 2005 page1

• Lu offers to resign as leader of DPP

  TENSIONS The move came after the president was reportedly displeased with Lu's aggressive moves in recent days, and canceled his usual meeting with her

  • By Jewel Huang and Chiu Yu-tzu / STAFF REPORTERS
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  A power struggle between Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for control of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) appeared to reach a climax yesterday after Lu said she would resign from the party's top post.

  At around 7pm yesterday, the Presidential Office issued a short press release saying that Lu intended to resign as the DPP's acting chairperson, since "she does not want to be a sacrificial offering in the struggle between factions." Lu became the DPP's acting chairperson just last Wednesday.

  Meanwhile, according to DPP officials and lawmakers, Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun has been persuaded to run for his party's chairmanship to help stabilize the president's hold on power.

  Lu yesterday canceled her meeting with DPP officials, purportedly because of a recurring eye condition. Some media reports have speculated that the cancelation was a result of Chen's displeasure with Lu's aggressive approach to party affairs since she took over the office from former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who resigned over the Dec. 3 local election debacle.

  Too active?

  On Saturday, Lu said that she was "watching the DPP on behalf of President Chen" when she inspected the troubled construction site for the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System. According to a report in the Liberty Times, Chen, who has struggled over the past week to keep different factions in the DPP balanced and avoid becoming a lame duck after the election result, was displeased with Lu's remarks and criticized her for going "too far" in her remarks in Kaohsiung.

  Chen reportedly expressed discontent over Lu's hard-charging manner. Lu's recent activities, including inspecting the site in Kaohsiung and planning a meeting on party reform, has led to criticism that she was too obviously trying to position herself as a candidate for the 2008 presidential election.

  Local Chinese-language news-papers said Chen had criticized Lu for "taking advantage of others' intrigues."

  Chen did not respond yesterday to such reports describing tension between him and Lu, but did cancel his regular Monday meeting with her.

  Lu has suggested punishment for DPP Legislator Peter Lin (林進興) over his involvement in questioning Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's health and releasing Hu's medical records during the election campaign.

  Lu also proposed holding a large-scale conference on party reform while dining with DPP lawmakers and members of the party's central standing committee on Sunday.

  However, many of the participants dissuaded Lu from holding that conference before a new chairperson is elected, and noted that the acting chairperson's primary job is to organize an election for the next party chairman.

  Although Lu has said she has no intention of campaigning for the DPP chairmanship, DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said that all of Lu's gestures seemed to be part of a campaign for the position.

  "Vice President Lu's aggressive moves will bother the new chairperson if she is not the new DPP leader," Lin Cho-shui said yesterday.

  Strong candidate

  A high-ranking official who was one of Yu's staff members when he served as the premier said on condition of anonymity that Yu is now planning to join in the election for the DPP chairmanship because many different factions voiced support for him running against Lu.

  The official said that Yu gets along well with Chen and is more "trustworthy" from the president's perspective. Yu is also a candidate who is accepted by the DPP's two main factions, the New Tide (新潮流) faction and the Justice Alliance (正義連線), and this could help the president stabilize his power in the DPP, the official said.

  "President Chen has good communication with Yu and I think Yu might be a candidate who can coordinate the government and the party to be more consistent in policy," DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.

  also see story:
  

  DPP lawmakers differ on alleged Chen-Lu dispute
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