Chen faces difficult tasks with new powers

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who will become chairman of the ruling DPP today, is hoping to reconcile the governing and opposition parties and break the deadlock between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Presidential Office officials have said.

"The first mission for chairman Chen is to arrange a summit of party leaders to discuss state issues and build a consensus," said Secretary-General to the President Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟). "The president will also appoint a delegation, which will be organized by party elites, to try to visit China to arrange further dialogue between him and Beijing's leaders."

Chen Shih-meng listed three major missions President Chen will undertake after taking over the chairmanship: reforming the party, improving cross-strait ties and reconciling with the opposition parties.

"President Chen is sincerely expecting that these efforts can effectively eliminate conflict between the government and opposition alliance and end the deadlock between two sides of the Taiwan Strait," Chen Shih-meng said.

A close aide to the president said that since Chen took office in May 2000, the DPP has functioned poorly, with the party's Central Headquarters failing to coordinate with its legislative caucus and the Cabinet, leading to charges the government is being run inefficiently.

"Now that he is the chairman, the president can directly discuss national policy with party leaders from the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan through the weekly meeting of party's Central Standing Committee," the aide said. "And now the president will personally lead the DPP in carrying out party reform, which is the only way to bring new life to the DPP."

Chen Shih-meng said that President Chen can also use his position as DPP chairman to help create a second channel, through the party, to open dialogue with the Chinese government.

"During the past two years, President Chen has already demonstrated goodwill to show Taiwan's sincerity in wanting to resume negotiations with Beijing," Chen Shih-meng said. "However, China has not reacted positively to Chen's administration.

"Therefore, the president would like to respond to Beijing's offer to DPP members to visit. President Chen declared last month that he will send a DPP delegation to visit mainland China to arrange more exchanges between the two ruling parties."

To deal with domestic political strife, the president is pushing for a summit with leaders of the main parties in Taiwan. The first steps toward such a meeting are being taken by the incoming DPP secretary-general and former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), who is negotiating with the secretaries-general of the other parties.

"President Chen wants to reaffirm that the summit has neither preconditions nor a prearranged agenda," the aide to the president said. "The most important thing is that the president will listen to all the suggestions of the parties' leaders and talk with them to end the misunderstandings and misgivings created by making statements to the media."

But with his increased powers, political observers say, the president will not be able to blame others for the standoffs between the ruling and opposition parties. He will have to be cautious in using his power and set a good example in dealing with the other parties to ensure he can keep his campaign promises, they said.