In the Cabinet's decision to make a U-turn on the controversy over whether construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
Ironically, Chiou was the first in the DPP to opt for hawkish strategies toward the plant controversy. After Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) announced a halt to construction on Oct. 27, Chiou immediately attended the DPP's Central Standing Committee meeting, asking for support from all party members and flatly rejecting any compromising attitude.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Let's all get prepared for a tough fight," he told the committee members.
Chiou's New Tide faction (
Having been the party's secretary-general for many years, Chiou also worked as Chen's campaign manager during the presidential election. His expertise in making political judgements and plotting strategy was highly recommended by and sometimes adopted by Chen.
Yet, after last March's election, when Chen no longer needed the New Tide's support as much as he had during the campaign, the president tried to distance himself a bit from Chiou by appointing him deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC).
However, the New Tide's ability to win internal power struggles as the DPP battled to find its way as a ruling party won Chiou his current position in the Cabinet.
It also made him the key link between the faction and Chen, senior China Times reporter Liou Pao-jye (
"He is in a perfect position to coordinate between the Cabinet and the party," he said.
"As leader of the New Tide faction -- the major opposition force [to the Cabinet's renunciation yesterday] -- he can certainly relax a lot of pressure from the party [on the Cabinet]," Liou added.
However, a DPP legislator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Chiou should be held responsible for the government's failure to defend the Cabinet's earlier decision to scrap the plant.
"It's not that Chiou compromised. It's a New Tide plot to exchange [its support] for more administrative resources by asking its members to show a strong backlash to the Cabinet's decision while its own leader endorsed it," the legislator said.
Liou, however, disagreed saying that Chen should shoulder full responsibility for the failure of the government's policy, not Chiou.
Liou also said that he believed Chiou has grasped the DPP government's dilemma -- having to face political reality during the pursuit of political ideals -- better than anyone else in the party.
"It would be better if both the president and the New Tide could cooperate with each other, however, it seems that there is an invisible tension between them," an NSC official said, adding that Chiou had more power in his current post than he did when he was in the NSC post.
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