Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that the city government will coordinate with the Presidential Office on the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), but refused to confirm whether he would attend the ceremony.
Ma made the remarks yesterday in a question-and-answer session at a Taipei City Council meeting, which was calm after two days of chaotic sessions.
During the question-and-answer session, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Councilor Chen Hui-min (
Ma said that since he has not yet received an invitation from the Presidential Office, he could not make a decision right away.
"I will think about it when I get the invitation," Ma said.
"I think it is not quite appropriate to discuss whether I would attend the inauguration or not when the nation is in a state of unease and chaos," he said.
Ma also said that the city government has approved a permit for the central government to use the roads around the Presidential Office building for the ceremony.
Earlier in the day, Taipei City Government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (
"The city government will go all out to coordinate with the central government for the inauguration, as it is an important national ceremony," Wu said at City Hall.
Ma said the city government had discussions with Presidential Office officials yesterday about details for reducing the impact of the ceremony on citizens' daily lives.
"But I have to stress that the ceremony organizer -- the Presidential Office -- is supposed to share the responsibility of trying to maintain public order and traffic flow with the city government," Ma said.
"I agree that the pan-blue and pan-green camps should announce a truce on May 20 and together look toward the future as soon as possible," Ma said.
Meanwhile, KMT Councilor Wang Hao (王浩) asked Ma to nominate the next mayoral candidate for 2006 as early as possible.
"Since everyone knows that Ma's next step is to win the presidential candidacy, Ma should develop a competent mayoral candidate in the KMT soon," Wang said.
"We helped you to win the mayoral election and it's your turn to save us from suffering," Wang said to Ma.
Ma said that he couldn't reveal his thoughts at this point but he had been thinking about this issue for a long time.
Furthermore, People First Party (PFP) Councilor Huang Shan-shan (
Although Ma promised to accede to Huang's requests, Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), who stood beside Ma, said it is difficult to meet the PFP's demands because the police have little evidence in the matter.
He said that the police have been unable to identify the people who stepped on the PFP lawmakers after watching videotapes filmed on the night of April 10.
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