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DPP blames opposition for economic chaos

KMT Chairman Lien Chan leads a demonstration against unemployment and deteriorating economic conditions yesterday. Synchronized demonstrations were held across Taiwan. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The DPP and KMT are at each other's throats with the DPP taking aim at the opposition party's nation-wide parade, which aimed to address the plight of the unemployed.

"It's like riding a bicycle. The DPP is peddling its way forward while the KMT is peddling in reverse gear," DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) told a campaign rally in Keelung yesterday afternoon.

Hsieh said people voted for changes at the state's helm in the last presidential election but opposition parties have failed to acknowledge their defeat.

"It just doesn't make sense to me," Hsieh said of the KMT parade.

Meanwhile, the ruling party said yesterday that opposition parties, which dominate the legislature, should be held responsible for triggering the political instability which has contributed to the country's economic woes.

"The KMT has never stood beside labor groups in the past and fought for their interests. All of sudden, it now adopts its former stance and cares about labor, staging opposition to the ruling party," the DPP's written statement said yesterday.

The DPP, citing poll results, said that most industries believe that Taiwan's economic woes are the result of the international economic downturn and, in part, domestic political infighting, which puts the blame on every political party. The ruling party, therefore, said that the KMT must share some responsibility.

Responding to the KMT parade, deputy director of the DPP's policy committee Wu Hsiang-jung (吳祥榮), who drafted the party statement, yesterday told the Taipei Times that "the DPP has more experience in holding marches than the KMT."

"In our eyes, this is just part of the KMT's election campaign. The march is motivated more by the election than by a desire to set an agenda," Wu said.

Wu added that the president's Economic Development Advisory Conference had come up with 55 points of consensus, endorsed by the KMT, to alleviate the country's high unemployment rate, adding that the DPP government has done all it can to speed up implementation of the conference's economic plan.

The party's written statement, moreover, argued that the KMT has flip-flopped on its labor policies and is not in a position to speak for labor groups. The statement said it takes inter-party cooperation and passion, rather than political infighting and sensationalism, to help resolve labor issues.

The statement also said that the DPP government has hammered out a series of solutions to address current economic problems, but the opposition-controlled legislature has done all it can to boycott the government's plans.

"Their boycott not only obstructs the government's rule, but also sacrifices labor interests," the statement said.

The ruling party yesterday summed up five faults of the majority opposition party. First, it said, the majority KMT should be blamed for taking the lead in passing the proposal for 84 hours of work per fortnight, increasing the costs of industry operations. Second, the KMT has cut back NT$66.4 billion from the Cabinet's budget of NT$810 billion, which is allocated for public construction, reducing roughly 25,000 job opportunities for laborers. Third, the KMT has boycotted the passage of revisions to the Public Debt Law, preventing the government from making public investments to expand domestic demand and create jobs.

The DPP, in addition, yesterday complained that the KMT has frozen local governments' budgets for infrastructure construction at NT$19.4 billion, cutting back on around 10,000 job opportunities for laborers. And the opposition party has also cut back the government's additional budget of NT$13.1 billion, part of which is allocated for children in poverty-stricken families, the statement added.
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