Political observers yesterday said the attempt by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to deliver a state-of-the-nation address in the Legislative Yuan has given him the upper hand over the pan-blue opposition.
"The move has resulted in pan-blue politicians knocking over their own claim that Chen's presidency is illegitimate," said Chin Heng-wei (
Since the night of the presidential election on March 20, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance has challenged the fairness of the election result. The pan-blue ticket lost by a narrow margin to Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
Brandishing the slogan "no truth, no president," the KMT-PFP alliance has filed suits to nullify the result and is now waiting on the Taiwan High Court to deliver a verdict on the matter early next month.
At a news conference on Monday, one day after Chen expressed his willingness to deliver a state-of-the-nation report, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) declared that he was willing to replace one of his party's legislators-at-large to debate crucial national issues with Chen.
"The very moment that Soong expressed his intention to become a legislator-at-large and debate Chen, Soong repudiated his denial of the legitimacy of Chen's presidency," Chin said.
For the first time since the election, Soong had used the words "President Chen." Soong said that "although there is controversy surrounding President Chen's status, the fact that he is exercising presidential power means that I cannot but accept the political reality of this status."
Noting the recent promulgation of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (
The opposition-controlled legislature earlier this month passed the pan-blue version of a bill forming a committee investigating the March 19 assassination attempt on Chen and Lu.
"When the Legislative Yuan forwarded the statute to Chen for his signature in his capacity as president before promulgating the bill into law, the pan-blue politicians had in effect acknowledged that they recognized Chen's status as head of state," Chin said.
Chen's attempt to address the legislature also seems to have driven a wedge between the PFP and the KMT, which appeared divided on this issue, political commentators said.
Contrary to Soong's eagerness to become a legislator and see Chen make the address, the KMT said that Chen had no right to make a report as president until the committee had determined the legitimacy of his presidency.
According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, when the legislature convenes each year, it may extend an invitation to the president to make a state-of-the-nation address.
The Constitution does not, however, require the president to answer questions from lawmakers on the floor. Against this backdrop, the opposition-controlled legislature did not invite Chen to deliver a report during his first term.
While the PFP has been enthusiastic over the issue, the KMT remains cool about the speech, stating that such an address should not be held before legislative elections in December.
"Judging from a recent poll which showed that the approval rate for Soong and his party has declined, the KMT of course is not wanting to give Soong a stage on which he can shine," writer and political observer Lin Chien-lung (
Recent opinion polls, including by media outlets sympathetic to the pan-blue camp, have suggested there is growing dissatisfaction toward pan-blue politicians.
A survey conducted by the Chinese-language China Times, for example, pointed to a solid rise in Chen's approval rating -- 52.6 percent, compared with a dissatisfaction rating of only 32 percent.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) received a poor rating of 31.2 percent compared with 41.1 percent of respondents who were dissatisfied, while Soong received support from only 26.1 percent and negative comment from 47.7 percent.
Soong's eagerness to debate Chen at the Legislative Yuan as a PFP lawmaker was interpreted by political observers as a desperate attempt to bolster both his and his party's sagging popularity in the leadup to the December poll.
"To have Chen delivering an address at the legislature and Soong debating him is tantamount to setting up a stage on which Soong can perform," Lin said.
"Naturally the KMT wouldn't like to see that," he said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard