Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) yesterday confirmed reports that he wanted to resign because of health and family reasons. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) rejected the request.
“I tendered my resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou on Monday,” Chiang told reporters yesterday morning before giving a presentation in the legislature on the latest round of negotiations with China. “I made the decision because my health is deteriorating a year after taking this position and because I wanted to spend more time with my family.”
Having signed nine cross-strait agreements and one consensus within a year, “I feel that I’ve accomplished my mission for the time being,” he said.
PHOTO: CNA
Chiang dismissed speculation that his resignation was linked to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) allegedly planning to take over the position so that Ma could then become KMT chairman.
“When I told Wu yesterday, he repeatedly asked me to stay and said he would work with me for the benefit of our country and party,” Chiang said.
Ma, meanwhile, said he had received Chiang’s resignation and rejected it.
Ma said he called Chiang yesterday morning and asked him to reconsider, but that he had yet to return Chiang’s letter of resignation.
“I told him to be more resistant to the pressure. He told me he could take the pressure, but could not bear to see his family suffer,” Ma said in an interview with ETTV to be aired tomorrow. “He also told me that his health wasn’t so good, but I told him he looked great.”
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Chiang tendered his resignation on Monday when he visited Ma at the Presidential Office. Ma rejected the resignation on the spot and instructed government agencies to make an all-out effort to keep Chiang, Wang said.
Ma said in the ETTV interview that he told Chiang on Monday that although many people were unhappy with Chiang, many people criticized the president, too.
Ma said that if he let the criticism upset him to the point of wanting to quit, he would not be able to get anything done.
Ma acknowledged Chiang’s contributions and those of the Cabinet, saying it was apparent to all. Ma said he told Chiang that his job was important and would only grow in significance.
In response to the speculation surrounding the party chairmanship, Ma said the public would know next month.
Wang said Ma knew Chiang was not like the media portrayed him. The media have questioned Chiang based on his family’s business ties in China, compelling Chiang to resign from a joint venture and a foundation to avoid any conflict of interest, he said.
Wang also cast doubt on reports that Ma had expressed anger over the Chinese business ties of some KMT members during a high-level meeting at the Presidential Office.
Wang said Ma was unlikely to talk about any specific people at such meetings, but it was possible that Ma had exchanged opinions with meeting participants about media reports.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday that the party would give Chiang its full support and try to dissuade him from stepping down.
“Chiang has gone through a lot lately and I understand how he feels. I’ve also had people spreading rumors about me,” Wu said at the KMT headquarters.
Wu dismissed allegations that he was likely to take over as SEF chairman and said the KMT’s central standing committee wanted Chiang to stay on.
“I am warning the person spreading those rumors to stop. It is not good to push Chiang and me into a corner,” he said.
Wu said he had urged Chiang not to leave after the latter told him about his resignation on Tuesday.
Chiang has made great contributions to three successful rounds of cross-strait negotiations with China, Wu said, and groundless rumors should not detract from this.
KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), a close friend of Chiang’s, said “someone” within the party had spread rumors to undermine Chiang.
“Criticism [of Chiang] by the opposition is normal in Taiwan’s democracy. What upset us, however, were the rumors spread by those within the party, which were completely unacceptable,” Lee said. “President Ma should reward party members who make great contributions rather than abandoning them after exploiting them. Otherwise no one would dare to serve the government anymore.”
KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓), head of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, said he was surprised to learn of Chiang’s resignation and the KMT caucus hoped Chiang would stay on.
Chou said he had heard many rumors about Chiang in the legislature, but declined to elaborate.
Chou urged the president to stabilize his administrative team ahead of Ma’s first anniversary.
“Chiang tendered his resignation because he could not accept the fact that the KMT did nothing while he was humiliated and insulted. Quitting is his way of upholding his dignity,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
Ker said Chiang had borne the responsibility for the cross-strait polices of Ma and National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起), and was a scapegoat.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said it was a mistake for Chiang to accept the position in the first place, and resigning was a mistake as well. It was ironic that the government that was “dumping him” was proud of his “achievements,” Gao said.
He said Chiang’s resignation was the result of a power struggle within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The DPP warned when Chiang took up the position a year ago that he was unsuitable for the job, Gao said, and it was vindicated when Chiang was later accused of conflicts of interest over his son allegedly running a licensed business in China and his wife’s alleged investment in a restaurant in Taiwan that is patronized by groups of Chinese tourists.
Gao said it would be unacceptable for the DPP if Chiang’s resignation paved the way for Wu to replace Chiang and Ma to take over the KMT chairmanship.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND RICH CHANG
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