Chen denies alliance with Lee

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) downplayed media speculation yesterday that he would form an alliance with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) after the year-end legislative elections.

Still, the president said that Lee is concerned about helping the DPP obtain a majority in the legislature, which would help stabilize turbulent domestic politics.

"There are no such things as a `Bian-Lee system' or `Lee-Bian system,' as the two terms were coined by the media to sensationalize the news," DPP lawmaker Chou Ching-yu (周清玉) quoted Chen as saying.

"This dichotomy also over-simplifies the present political landscape," Chou added.

Chou said that the former president, though he left office last year, is still concerned about national affairs and hopes the DPP will be able to implement government policy more smoothly in the future.

Chen made the comments yesterday as he met with a group of DPP lawmakers.

Hinting at the cozy relationship between the two political leaders, Chou said that Chen told lawmakers that Lee was upset by opposition legislators' attempts to oust the president last year. Lee told Chen "he was very upset" by the move when the two met last year, Chou said.

In November, the opposition parties ganged up together in an effort to recall Chen because of the administration's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

"The president stressed that it was from a sense of mission that Lee hopes to assist the DPP to become a major party in the year-end legislative elections to smooth government operations," DPP lawmaker Cheng Tsao-min (鄭朝明) said.

Last week, Lee was quoted as saying that if the DPP can capture 85 seats in the year-end elections, the party would have the support of another 35 lawmakers to help push through policies in the legislature.

Still, while Chen yesterday sought to downplay reports of a Chen-Lee alliance, his comments are not likely to lead his political opponents to believe otherwise.

Lee and Chen are scheduled to share the same stage tomorrow at a founding ceremony of a group of academic and cultural advisors to be called the Northern Taiwan Society (台灣北社).

In addition to Lee and Chen, high profile politicians such as former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) and pro-independence presidential advisors Ku Kuan-min (辜寬敏) and Peng Min-min (彭明敏) are also planning to attend.

In response to media reports that the new organization will serve as a think tank for Chen's administration, members of the group said the association would be comprised of non-politicians and serve as a neutral body in order to "to keep close watch on government policies and provide advice and critiques when necessary."

"It would be derogatory to brand the Northern Taiwan Society a think thank of any political groups, as we seek to become an advisory association with absolute autonomy," said member Li Hsiao-feng (李筱峰), a professor of political history at Shih Hsin University.

Regardless of the members' claims, the Northern Taiwan Society -- along with the Southern Taiwan Society (台灣南社) and the Central Taiwan Society (台灣中社) -- share much in common with the DPP in terms of ideology.

The Southern and Central Taiwan Societies, formed last year, endeavor to elevate Taiwanese culture and advocate a sense of Taiwanese consciousness.

The Northern Taiwan Society will share the same purpose.