Without having even entered office, the administration of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is facing its first potential political crisis over whether to continue construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, with DPP Chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) demanding that his party's anti-nuclear stance be implemented.
"If the premier, as appointed by the president, is unable to implement the DPP's anti-nuclear energy stance, the DPP would request Chen to remove him from office," Lin said in a press conference yesterday.
Lin, who has long devoted himself to anti-nuclear campaigning, said if internal dissonance arises in Chen's administration over whether to halt the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the president should try to bridge the internal discord.
If the administration, after an overall evaluation of the pros and cons of the project, finds it unable to carry out the DPP's anti-nuclear energy platform, Chen as a DPP member should propose amending related party guidelines, said Lin.
"But before the party platform is amended, and Chen's administration insists on carrying out the construction project, the DPP would request the president to remove these Cabinet members from office," Lin said.
And if Chen's amendment proposal is turned down by the DPP and Chen insists on continuing construction of the plant, the DPP could kick Chen out of the party.
Lin's comments, however, drew mixed responses from KMT and DPP legislators yesterday.
KMT legislators from the subgroup Reform Association (
"While Chen said he was to establish a people's government (
While Chen said during his presidential campaign that he would withdraw from DPP partisan activities if elected, Ting said Lin's announcement yesterday sought to pressure the president-elect to follow the DPP's party line.
"Now that Lin is giving Chen such tremendous pressure, it's time for Chen to prove to the public whether he's able to become what he called a `people's president (
But DPP legislator Lee Wen-chung (
"The DPP's anti-nuclear energy stance is crystal clear, and Chen as a DPP member is obliged to support such a stance unless he leaves the DPP or proposes related platform amendments," Lee said.
Although what Chen formulated was a "people's government," the general social expectation of the new administration was to "request Chen and his DPP party to be responsible" for the repercussions of policy implementation carried out by the new government.
"So if a political appointee in the Cabinet finds himself or herself to be in disagreement with Chen's stance or that of the DPP's, the person in question should naturally be fired," he said.
When asked if Chen would be hampered if his government ultimately decides to continue the nuclear power plant project, Lee said it's an unlikely scenario.
"Chen will have to face the situation whenever the DPP's stance on the issue clashes with that held by the old government. But I believe Chen will still carry out the DPP's anti-nuclear energy stance after a thorough evaluation is completed by his administration. So the questioned raised will be solved," Lee said.
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