Lo Chih-ming drops out of TSU chairmanship race

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the election for TSU chairman in the interests of political stability, after talking to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for about three hours at Lee's residence yesterday afternoon.

"Former president Lee told me he has observed that people are tired of the ongoing chaotic political situation and said that the TSU should set an example of consolidation and harmony for society," Lo said yesterday.

Reform is Priorty

"The important thing for the TSU right now is to reform the party and recruit more new blood so we have the base to democratize the TSU," Lo quoted Lee as saying.

"Therefore, I have decided to drop out of the TSU chairmanship election and not compete with Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強)," Lo said.

The three hopefuls for the TSU chairmanship, prior to Lo's announcement that he would withdraw, included Su, secretary-general of the National Cultural Association, TSU Legislator-at-large Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇) and Lo, who had registered to vie for the position last week.

But some TSU members did not agree with the choice of Su, who Lee enlisted to campaign for the post before he left on a trip to Japan last week. As such, Lo and Kuo also announced they would join the race.

Kuo said yesterday he would respect Lee's opinion although he has not spoken with him on the issue yet.

Meanwhile, Lo said that Lee also spoke of the makeup of the next Cabinet.

Lee held a positive attitude toward cooperation between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the People First Party (PFP), he said.

"Former President Lee supports the so-called `united Cabinet' and urges everyone to support President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) final decision, since political stability is essential to the nation's development," Lo said.

Soong for Premier?

When asked whether Lee agreed with the suggestion that PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) become the next premier, Lo, unusually, did not deny this, and simply quoted Lee as having said: "I appointed Hau Po-chun (郝柏村) to be the premier too when I was the president," indicating that even people who have different political stances can coordinate with each other.