In a surprise move, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"If President Chen steps down voluntarily, the Constitution states that the vice president should replace him. We support this," Ma told reporters.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) expressed agreement, but with one condition: that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Lo said yesterday morning that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had suggested that the TSU should "conditionally" support a motion to recall Chen if the president did not step down voluntarily.
"The TSU will support a government that is headed by Lu and Wang jointly as long as they put Taiwan first and work to stabilize the political situation," Lo said.
According to Lo, Lee met with Wang recently and told him that he expected the legislative speaker to take the lead in forming a workable government.
However, TSU Legislator Ho Min-hao (
When confronted by reporters yesterday, Wang said: "Did you hear the [former] president say that himself?"
TSU Chairman Shu Chih-chiang (
"We are concerned with stabilizing the current situation, not recalling the president and selecting a new premier," Shu said.
"The TSU is against the idea of recalling the president. This has never changed," Shu said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (
"There is no reason for the DPP to invite a KMT heavyweight to take the premier's office. Besides, such an arrangement would damage Wang's reputation as a loyal KMT member," Tsai said.
In an interview with SET-TV last night, Lu said it was impossible for her to succeed Chen via a pan-blue recall motion.
It would require at least 56 yeas to propose the recall and another 148 yeas for it to be approved by the legislature, but the pan-blues only occupy 122 seats, she said.
"It is difficult to do such a thing at this moment, so I would urge our pan-blue friends not to waste their time and money," Lu added.
When asked whether it was possible she would succeed Chen if he stepped down on his own accord, Lu said: "There is no sign so far that the president will resign, so there is no need for me to worry about whether or not I will succeed him."
Meanwhile, in response to a report in the Chinese-language China Times that Lu would ask Wang to form a new Cabinet, Ma yesterday said he "has faith in Speaker Wang" and did not believe that he would work with the DPP.
"I believe that this is just one of the media's ways of generating news," he said, referring to the report which said that Lu was taking precautions against the pan-blue alliance's motion to recall Chen by teaming up with Wang.
The report quoted anonymous sources as saying that on May 20, Lu expressed the desire to cooperate with Wang.
The two later reached an agreement that they would strengthen communication channels and establish an informal alliance under the guise of working together to stabilize the political situation, the report said.
The Presidential Office dismissed the report in a statement issued yesterday.
"The report is purely fictitious and not at all trustworthy," the statement said. "The vice president did not discuss any matters with Speaker Wang other than the `blue ocean' coffee meeting."
The "blue ocean" coffee meeting, scheduled for yesterday but canceled due to lack of interest, was an initiative by Lu and Wang aimed at mapping out the way forward for the nation.
Invitations were extended to the leaders of the four government branches and five main political parties.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The Presidential Office statement said that the vice president and legislative speaker came up with the idea for the "blue ocean" coffee meeting when they attended a fundraiser held by the Lu-initiated Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) on May 20.
Wang also dismissed the China Times report yesterday, saying it was "imaginative."
Wang said he had communicated more frequently with Lu recently because they were discussing the idea of an alliance among DPU member countries.
"On the day that the vice president asked me to help to organize a summit with political leaders over coffee we were meeting to discuss raising funds for the DPU's alliance," Wang said.
Wang said the newspaper report was erroneous as he hadn't discussed anything other than DPU matters with the vice president.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Jewel Huang
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