Chen could backtrack on the NUC

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is likely to chair the National Unification Council (國家統一委員會), Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), acting secretary-general to the Presidential Office, said yesterday afternoon.

Eugene Chien (簡又新), deputy secretary-general to the president, said that the president is expected to make the announcement today in the Dominican Republic.

"The NUC and the cross-party task force have been indexes of the goodwill we have extended to China in terms of cross-strait interaction. If the NUC is not chaired by a political heavyweight, China might doubt our sincerity," said Chen Che-nan.

President Chen had consulted with some other important political figure to be the chairman, but no reply was received yet, the secretary-general said.

In 1997, former DPP Chairman Huang Hsin-chien (黃信介) and Chen Shui-bian himself were asked to serve as members of the NUC, but both declined the job and refused to attend.

Chen even criticized the NUC as "as superfluous as an appendix" and that "nobody would feel remorse or even notice if it were cut away,"

On top of this, the DPP Central Standing Committee (CSC) passed a resolution which banned party members from attending the NUC.

As a result, if Chen insists on chairing the NUC now, he may run into trouble for violating the platform of his own party.

Chen Che-nan further made reports to DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) at the weekly "Forum for Party and Political Negotiation" (FPPN, 黨政協商會報) yesterday. Hsieh told reporters after the meeting that according to Chen Che-nan, the president had not made a final decision yet.

The DPP said yesterday that it was still evaluating the possible impact of the president's heading the NUC. "Nevertheless," said Hsieh, "resolutions passed by the CSC in the past are consistent over time. If any dispute arises, the party's CSC and Central Review Committee (CRC, 仲裁委員會) will come up with explanations," said Hsieh, downplaying the issue of whether the DPP would the president's role in the NUC.

Both President of the Legislative Yuan Wang Jin-pying (王金平) and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) refused to comment on whether they would accept the president's invitation to be vice chairman of the NUC.

"We doubt that President Chen would persuade the DPP to accept the concept of national unification," said Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正), secretary-general of the KMT, adding that the question of who would represent the KMT on the NUC depended on President Chen's final decision.

The opposition parties, on the other hand, all expressed their support for the president's taking up the chairmanship.

"It shows President Chen's concerns for cross-strait issues if he chairs the NUC himself," said Lee Ching-an (李慶安), People First Party spokesperson.

KMT's legislator Tseng Yuan-chuan (曾永權), Hung Yuh-chin (洪玉欽) and New Party's legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) all urged Chen to take office as the NUC's chairman and summon meetings as soon as possible.