“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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