PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday again rejected President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) invitation to a political summit, saying it was Chen who breached an agreement to meet him.
Soong urged Chen not to make participating in the summit the precondition for a meeting.
"If President Chen is willing to see me, I will be glad to share with him the true situation that the people are facing today. If he has a problem with seeing me, I cannot compel him to do so," Soong said.
The Presidential Office yesterday renewed its proposal for a political summit and reiterated that Chen, if necessary, would be willing to meet with Soong face-to-face after the summit.
The Presidential Office was reacting to Soong's recent revelation that he could have passed on some important information to Chen if the president had made good on his promise to meet him.
Soong, during a fund-raising event Tuesday organized by a PFP candidate for Taipei City Council, said that he could give up his 2004 presidential bid and would visit China to seek a resolution to Taiwan's economic problems for the DPP government, provided Chen would "face up to history honestly and the future pragmatically."
Soong was referring to the long-standing position of the PFP that Taiwan should deal with cross-strait relations under the "one China" principle and that its position is backed by the ROC Constitution.
Soong also said that he and the PFP would seek to unseat Chen in 2004 if Chen refused to face up to reality and insisted on leading Taiwan's economy to a dead end.
Soong's statement was interpreted by some political analysts as an attempt to justify and pave the way for his 2004 presidential bid, as it is highly unlikely the DPP would accept the "one China" principle.
Reacting to this speculation, Soong yesterday said his remarks on Tuesday were unrelated to his plans for 2004.
"If I'm to make any announcement [about my presidential bid], I will do so explicitly and won't beat about the bush," Soong said.
Soong said what he was trying to say was that people's lives are getting harder and harder, and the situation is making him very worried.
In addition, Soong said he has no intention of acting as anyone's envoy, though he has not ruled out the possibility of visiting China to convey Taiwan's majority opinion.
However, Soong admitted that such a visit would produce limited effect, as the PFP is not the ruling party and cannot represent the government.
Members of the TSU yesterday accused Soong of being Machiavellian and said he was treating President Chen as though he were an "idiot."
TSU legislative whip Su Ying-kwei (
Liao Pen-yen (
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