Chen hopes to discuss battle plan

The Presidential Office stressed yesterday that the meeting tomorrow for party heads and legislative leaders to discuss the battle against SARS will go ahead, despite a boycott by some opposition leaders.

"President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is sincere about introducing the government's overall measures to those political leaders," James Huang (黃志芳), spokesman of the Presidential Office, said yesterday. "And the meeting will go ahead, even if some guests we invited decide to be absent."

Huang stressed that the meeting is not a political summit and is not intended to politicize the issues. Rather, he said, the meeting is being held because the president believes the nation does not have enough information about SARS and the public may have been misled by the media's selective coverage and reporting.

"Therefore, people actually don't understand the whole situation and have no clear idea about what the government is doing," he said.

Tomorrow the president will chair a high-level national security meeting, which is scheduled to call together the National Security Council (NSC) and the Cabinet to discuss the impact of SARS.

Huang said that all resolutions of the national security meeting will be explained to those political leaders on the same day. At the same time, Chen expects to listen to their opinion and ideas about how to resolve the negative impact of SARS on the country.

Secretary-General to the president, Chiou Yi-jen (邱義仁), has contacted the five major political parties, including the KMT, the PFP, TSU, New Party and the DPP. Independent lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan have also been contacted.

Yesterday, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) expressed their reservations about the president's invitation, saying that it is not necessary to turn the issue into a partisan one.

Huang responded that the Presidential Office will stay in contact with opposition leaders and insisted that the meeting will take place, even if some of them choose to be absent.

Huang added that the president also expects to discuss the possibility of declaring a state of emergency to deal with the epidemic.

"Basically, the Executive Yuan proposed that it is not necessary to make such a decision because existing laws and regulations are effective to cope with current developments," said Huang.

"However, the president doesn't rule out the possibility [of declaring an emergency] after discussing the issue with political leaders," he said.