Opposition rejects Chen's call to open up communication

Top leaders from the three major opposition parties yesterday said they would continue to refuse to open lines of communication with the DPP government until President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) promised to implement the so-called semi-presidential system.

The announcement followed an impromptu meeting at which party representatives pledged to have no dealings with the DPP individually, forcing the ruling party to deal with the opposition as a united group.

"The new resolutions made by President Chen and his nine-member policy-making task force at Tuesday night's meeting still show neither sincerity nor goodwill and are meaningless to boot," said KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正).

Chen held his nine-member policy-making meeting on Tuesday night and assigned five of the nine to communicate with opposition leaders about solving the current financial problems and constitutional disputes.

The five-member task force included DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), Secretary-General to the President Yu Shyi-kun, Secretary-General to the Premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and leader of the DPP legislative caucus Hsu Tian-tsair (許添財)

Lin yesterday contacted People First Party (PFP) Secretary-General Chung Jung-chi (鍾榮吉) and New Party legislative caucus leader Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) to hold a meeting to discuss whether to react to the appointment of the president's five-member negotiation task force.

They publicized a four-point announcement after their two-hour closed-door meeting, criticizing the president for still doing things casually and perfunctorily to react to the opposition parties alliance.

"President Chen has still offered no concrete answers about how to implement the semi-presidential constitutional system, nor when to convene the National Reunification Council meeting," the announcement said, "nor even an effective financial policy."

As for the five-member task force, KMT spokesman Jason Hu (胡志強), who was assigned to read out the announcement, said the three opposition parties would never separately negotiate with the DPP.

The opposition alliance also announced that it did not support the Executive Yuan's revised amendment to the Labor Standards Law to implement a 44-hour workweek, which was approved at yesterday's cabinet meeting.

"Unless the Executive Yuan invites the representatives of both businesses and labor unions to negotiate this issue and reach a consensus, we won't agree with the government sacrificing labor's interests to benefit business leaders," Lin said.