Print

Mail

wiki links

Preliminary Su-Ma meeting a failure

No consensus was reached during a 90-minute preliminary meeting yesterday ahead of the planned get-together between Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as they attempt to find a solution to the ongoing tension.

The preliminary meeting was held at the KMT headquarters yesterday, with KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) and KMT policy coordination department director Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) representing Ma, and Minister Without Portfolio Lin Si-yao (林錫耀) and Executive Yuan official Lin Wan-i (林萬億) representing Su. It failed, however, to set a time, date and location for the proposed meeting and the two sides continued to be divided on how to solve the unrest.

"The two sides remain divided on whether Ma and Su should hold a private meeting or include other political leaders. The two sides will continue to study possibilities," KMT Spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) told the press at the KMT headquarters.

As to whether or not the KMT would halt its plan to push for a second presidential recall motion in order to improve the political atmosphere, the two sides also failed to reach a conclusion, Huang added.

Although no consensus was reached during the summit, the meeting was conducted in a "cordial atmosphere," and the two sides shared "high expectations for solving the current political unrest."

"The two sides exchanged opinions frankly, understood each other's views, and are willing to continue to communicate with each other sincerely," Huang said.

Su had said that he hoped a consultative conference with all five party leaders could be convened after the preliminary meeting between himself and Ma.

Ma, however, repeated yesterday that he wished to have a one-on-one meeting with Su first.

While acknowledging that the meeting, with each side having dissenting views, may leave little room for negotiation, Ma expressed his expectations for talks on ways to break the current unrest.

"The reason I decided to talk to him has a lot to do with his absence from the pro-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) rally. He understands his role, and only by talking to this kind of person can we find room for negotiation," he said.

"We are trying to find hope in public disappointment about the current situation," he added.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday requested the pan-blue alliance withdraw its second recall motion against the president before Su meets with Ma.

"There is no room for any discussion unless the second recall motion is pulled from the legislative agenda," DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said. "Their coming to the meeting with a pre-set agenda is like putting a knife to our neck and asking us to have tea with them."

Describing Ma as a "political idiot," Ker said he was the source of all the nation's troubles.

"He has an angel's face but does the devil's deeds," he said. "He is a political vegetable and not fit to talk about fighting corruption until he applies the same standards to handling his party's ill-gotten assets."

DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said that although Su's intentions were well-meant, her caucus would recommend that he not go to the meeting in a bid to avoid falling into Ma's trap and being used as his pawn.

"There is nothing to talk about unless there are no preconditions," she said. "If he is lucky, Su might be able to pull it off, but I am not upbeat about it, especially after the second recall motion made it to the legislative floor."

Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the Su-Ma talks would not be constructive unless the second recall motion was withdrawn.

"The party's position is clear: we oppose the meeting if it is organized to discuss President Chen's resignation or an exit strategy for either the president or Shih," he said.

Lin said his party did not support party-to-party negotiations if the second recall motion or no-confidence vote against Su were used as a bargaining tool.

DPP legislators yesterday expressed differing opinions over the second recall motion.

Legislator Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) said Ma should first talk with anti-Chen campaign leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) before talking to Su, because Shih was the cause of all the problems.

Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said he acknowledged Su's efforts at resolving the deadlock and believed the talks would be multi-lateral and not about underhand deals.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said that although he did not feel left out, he would be happy to attend the Su-Ma meeting.

Regarding the pan-blue's plan to spark a no-confidence vote if the recall campaign failed, Wang said that he respected lawmakers' right to file the request and pointed out that it would create trouble if Chen decided to dissolve the legislature.

Earlier yesterday, the premier urged his fellow political leaders to "cease fire."

"Everybody should stop arguing for a moment so we can sit down and solve the biggest problem together," Su said during the Cabinet's weekly meeting.

Su said he had begun to have contact with other political leaders and invited them to the potential cross-party meeting.

Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang

Also see editorial:
Editorial: Shih's vanity distracts the mighty

This story has been viewed 1991 times.