DPP legislative whip Chou Po-lun (
Chou, who has been absent from the task force's weekly meetings for four weeks, yesterday said that he agreed with a proposal by the president to strengthen the function of the task force. However, he doubted that Chen would carefully evaluate opinions offered by members at their meetings.
"Weekly meetings of the president's nine-man task force have been held more than 10 times. But what policies have been discussed and coordinated in the meetings [before they are finalized]?" Chou asked at a press conference yesterday morning.
Chou added that Chen had never consulted with task force members about issues such as the Cabinet reshuffle, holding of a referendum to decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
Chou has previously said that Chen usually raised his concerns about major national policies at task force meetings and then asked members for their opinions. However, he said that Chen tended to listen only to the opinions he preferred and would make a final decision arbitrarily, without having informed members beforehand.
Chou concluded, therefore, that the task force should be dismissed.
He added that he and DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen
The Cabinet's Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Therefore, he said, conclusions reached at the group's meetings were not necessarily the government's final decision. In response to Chou's comments yesterday, he offered a denial.
"I don't think what [Chou] said is true, however, I respect his right to express his feelings," Chiou said yesterday morning at a press conference for new Cabinet members.
Members of the task force include Chen, Vice President Annette Lu (
Chou, in addition, said he would attend an ad hoc special meeting to be held by the Presidential Office to discuss measures to reinforce the task force's coordinating mechanism.
Another DPP legislative caucus leader, Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), said that the caucus would hold a discussion next week to deal with Chou's absence from the task force's weekly meetings. Ker added that another representative might be recommended to replace Chou if he insisted in not attending.
He also gave his approval of the function of the task force, saying "every member can bring up issues for further discussion at the meetings, therefore, it shouldn't be dismissed."
Chou expressed willingness to accept any decision made by the caucus and said he would attend the task force's meeting if asked by the DPP caucus.
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