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TSU rebuts reports it has asked MAC chief Lai to resign

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday rebutted a local news report alleging it had asked Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) — a TSU member — to quit her position.

TSU spokeswoman Chou Mei-li (周美里) told reporters: “The party understands how difficult it is for TSU member Lai to serve as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) MAC chairwoman and the party hopes Lai will stay in office to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and interests.”

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported yesterday that the TSU would organize a rally on Aug. 20 to protest the government’s policy of increased opening to China, that former president and TSU spiritual leader Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) would soon openly criticize Ma and his government over their China policies and that the party had asked Lai to resign from the Cabinet.

The report said that the TSU would consider asking Lai to leave the party if she did not resign.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday the TSU should force Lai to quit her job immediately, which would release her from shouldering the responsibility for the government’s China-leaning policies.

Soochow University political science professor Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) told the Taipei Times yesterday that Lai had two choices — either to stay in office and leave the TSU or resign her post and remain a party member.

He said since the Ma administration’s China policies were counter to the TSU’s stance, Lai could not hold onto both her party membership and her job.

Hsu rejected suggestions that the push to get Lai to resign was related to reports that Beijing plans to team up with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to force Ma to push Taiwan closer to unification with China, saying Ma has been in control of his China policy and the policies relating to China were Ma’s decisions.

The TSU confirmed the party would organize a protest march to the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Aug. 20 to protest the administration’s economic policies.

TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) has said repeatedly that Ma’s more open economic policies toward China were “bloodletting” policies and a “death blow” to the nation’s vulnerable economy. He said that continued capital flight to China would undermine the nation’s economic growth, resulting in rising unemployment, a widening gap between rich and poor and rising fuel prices.
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