Chen urges opposition to end project boycott

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged the opposition parties to stop boycotting the Cabinet's public construction project to expand the nation's infrastructure, saying that the sooner the Legislative Yuan can pass the project the better off the country's economy would be.

"The whole NT$50 billion budget of this project should not be regarded as a fund for the presidential campaign," Chen, accompanied by Taipei County Commissioner Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌), told reporters while attending a tea-product exhibition in Taipei County yesterday.

"This money can help local governments create plenty of jobs, which will effectively improve the country's economic development," he said.

Chen's remarks came in response to the opposition alliance's description of the infrastructure project as a "campaign trick."

KMT and PFP lawmakers insist that the real purpose of the project is to pressure local governments into showing support for the DPP.

Chen said that every bit of the government's budget will be used to stimulate the economy and pull it out of a recession, as well as reducing the unemployment rate.

"The government will neither give special favor to those county and city governments under DPP administrations, nor just consider the campaign effects, as opposition politicians claim," Chen said.

Su said that over 17 of 23 local government chiefs have signed a statement saying they expect to receive budget money from the proposed infrastructure project, including mayors and commissioners who belong to the KMT and the PFP.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has criticized the project as a "measure to create statistical growth" and help promote the DPP in the next presidential campaign.

The DPP has accused the opposition alliance of adopting an irrational strategy of blocking all government policies to rule out any possibility of making progress.

"By doing so, they can discredit the DPP during the presidential campaign," DPP legislative caucus leader Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said previously.

Meanwhile, the feud between opposition lawmakers and Council for Economic Planning and Development Vice Chairman Chang Jin-sheng (張景森) appears to be heating up.

Chang outraged opposition legislators on Tuesday, saying the blue camp's persistent opposition in the Legislative Yuan was just like an "autocratic congress."

Chang urged voters and local governments to blame the opposition lawmakers for their boycott of the infrastructure project.

During a negotiation session at the legislature on Wednesday, PFP legislative caucus leader Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) used obscene language when referring to both Chang and his parents.

Some KMT lawmakers demanded that Chang apologize on his knees to the legislature.

But yesterday Chang announced that he would sue those lawmakers who had insulted him.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun expressed his support yesterday for Chang's decision to file a lawsuit.

Yu said such action was appropriate for a Cabinet member who wants to protect his or her personal reputation and basic human rights.

Opposition lawmakers, however, appeared more conciliatory yesterday during negotiations with Yu and Cabinet members on the infrastructure project in what observers said was an apparent bid to appease complaints from voters.

But the lawmakers insisted that Chang must apologize before the construction project will be passed by the legislature.