The Presidential Office yesterday rejected speculation that President Chen Shui-bian (
"We deeply regret seeing this false report in the newspaper," the Presidential Office said in a statement issued yesterday morning. "The president has a high regard for Premier Su and expressed his full support for the Executive Yuan's social security improvement plan and other government projects when the premier came to the Presidential Office to brief the president on the matter."
It was obvious to all that the executive branch has begun to make aggressive efforts to implement government policies, the statement said, and that the executive branch must not be affected by some media outlets whose aim was to divide the administration.
The statement was made in response to a report published yesterday in the Chinese-language China Times, with a headline that read "[Chen] figures to let Wang form Cabinet in late October."
The report quoted sources from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as saying that Chen had figured out a way to defuse the current political crisis by replacing Su with Wang and handing over all his power. The frontrunner for the new premier, the report said, would be Wang. By doing so, the report said that the pressure would fall on KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Incidentally, Chen yesterday said that the position of legislative speaker is the closest path to presidency during a meeting with foreign guests at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
"There is a saying that the shortest way to the presidency is to be a parliamentarian," Chen told Honduras Legislative Speaker Roberto Micheletti Bain.
"But in your country, I find that the position of legislative speaker is the shortest way to presidency. I have great hopes for your political future," he said.
Wang also denied that Chen had ever given him a message that he would be appointed premier next month.
"I never heard of the matter," Wang said.
He publicly denied the report twice, as his first statement was interpreted by local TV news channels as saying that he has an inclination to form a Cabinet.
Wang said he had to make the truth clear "especially when the current political situation is so sensitive."
As for Chen's comment that being a legislative speaker is the shortest way to the presidency, Wang said that "I am not the one whom the president spoke of. Chen was referring to something often seen in Central and South America."
The report said that Chen intended to invite Wang, who enjoys a close relationship with the president and an allegedly frosty one with Ma, to form a Cabinet to promote interparty cooperation and break the current political deadlock.
Wang said he believed that no one would refuse to help reconcile the pan-blue and the pan-green camps if he had ability to do so.
Meanwhile, legislators across party lines yesterday expressed doubt about the possibility of Wang being invited to form a Cabinet next month.
"Chen's resignation and the Cabinet reshuffle are two different things. Having Chen stay in exchange for Wang replacing Su is not an acceptable option for the party," KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (
Ma said he did not know whether the president would ask Wang to form a Cabinet, but that if he did, the matter would need to be discussed between the DPP and the KMT in line with the "double government chief" system.
"The president should not make the appointment. It will be doomed to failure," Ma said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique