Elmer Feng claims to be appointed cross-strait envoy

The Presidential Office denied yesterday ever asking New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng (馮滬祥) to act as an emissary to soothe ties with Beijing, with top aides calling the allegation "far from truth."

Feng, who just returned from a trip to China Thursday night, claimed that he acted as a cross-strait emissary for three months at the request of Chen Che-nan (陳哲南), deputy secretary-general in the presidential office.

Chen, who is in Vietnam on a private visit, said through aides in Taipei that he did meet with Feng a number of times but maintained that those talks revolved purely around the Presidential Office's budget.

Chen challenged the lawmaker to produce evidence as soon as possible about the alleged authorization. He was quoted as being "shocked" by the news report.

To back up his story, Feng said he is to disclose their taped conversations at a news conference tomorrow.

Feng held that he met with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Dec. 15 and Jan. 3 during which the president pledged to recognize the "one China" principle, in a reluctant manner, and convene the National Unification Council in March.

Protests from diehard pro-independence activists prevented the president from taking a milder course in addressing the sovereignty dispute, Feng added.

"Chen Che-nan and I held 12 meetings in my office between Dec. 12 of last year and the end of March this year," Feng said.

He claimed that the intelligence agency taped all his conversations with the presidential aide and that an unnamed agent recently gave him copies of those tapes.

Rebuffing Feng's claims, Chen Che-nan said all the meetings he had with Feng were initiated by the lawmaker, who as chairman of the Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, had a significant influence over the budget for the Presidential Office.

He added that the president met Feng at the Presidential Office to solicit his support for the spending bill.

But Chen Che-nan insisted that never once had he asked Feng to act as an emissary or pass messages for the president to Chinese leaders.

Feng frequently flies to China on what he says are trips to promote cross-strait ties.

Echoing his colleague, Presidential Secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun said the president met several other legislators last year in the hope of dismantling resistance to his policy bills.