President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the remarks during a campaign rally held yesterday in Hsinchu City.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen said Wang failed to maintain his impartiality in the legislature and instead became a spokesperson for Lien and Soong.
"I hope that Wang will not become the second former Legislative Speaker Liu Soong-fan (劉松藩)," Chen said.
Chen also assured that the government will dedicate in passing the bills concerning financial reforms in the legislature if the pan-green camp wins the majority in the upcoming elections.
During his campaign speech, Chen also praised Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
The Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) legislative caucus inserted itself into the pan-blue opposition's internal politics yesterday, announcing that they will recommend Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
They also called for Wang to give up competing for the position of the chairman of the Chinese National Party (KMT) in order to maintain his good name.
The recommendation was dis-missed by the KMT as an insincere election tactic aimed at embarrassing Wang and sowing division in the pan-blue camp.
High ranking personnel in the KMT anonymously told the media yesterday that Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will announce his bid to be KMT chairman after next month's legislative elections.
The sources also said that Chairman Lien Chan (
In response to those reports, DPP legislative caucus leader Ker Chien-ming (
They recommended that he follow former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung's (
"The distance from the Legislative Yuan to the Control Yuan is only a matter of meters -- a road's width apart. But the KMT's internal struggle between Wang and Ma is going to be a long and dangerous road," Ker said.
In response, the KMT legislative caucus said the DPP's recommendation of Wang was designed to confuse the public, and was insincere as it came on the heels of the pan-green camp's strong criticism of Wang.
"They used to defame Legislative Yuan Speak Wang every day and now all of the sudden they are recommending him? Isn't this a bit fake?" KMT legislative caucus leader Huang The-fu (
"We recommend that President Chen appoint Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to be the Control Yuan speaker at the same time, and let her directly lead the 319 committee," said Huang The-fu said.
Just last week many DPP legislators and DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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