Premier Frank Hsieh (
"Chairman Lien said that he is going to China because he wants to do something for the Taiwanese people. However, if that is the case, he should help us pass several important bills that concern the public and have been pending at the legislature for a while, before he works on foreign affairs," Hsieh said. "It is really not persuasive that he is doing something for the people."
Hsieh said that, since the KMT holds the majority in the legislature, if Lien wants to do something for the people he should urge his fellow KMT members in the legislature to support the important bills that had been proposed by the government so that the bills would be approved and help the public in different aspects of their daily life.
Hsieh made his remarks during a briefing with lawmakers after hearing complaints from KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (
"What [Lien] needs to do is ask KMT lawmakers to support the pending bills and help us approve them. As for his trip to China, all he needs to do is obey the law. That is very simple," Hsieh said. "Unfortunately, what he is doing now is not persuasive, is it?"
Under the law, anybody who tries to represent the country or makes deals or agreements with a foreign country must gain the authorization from his own country beforehand. However, Lien has yet to talk to any government officials, although the KMT has announced that Lien will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"The KMT is the majority in legislature. If they (KMT lawmakers) feel that the current law is unfair to their chairman, they can try to fix it. However, it will not be logical and reasonable if they do not want to amend the law, and yet do not want to follow the law, either," Hsieh said. "If everybody does the same thing, the government will be screwed."
The premier said that he is expecting the KMT chairman to be a good role model for the people by following the rules. As for People First Party Chairman James Soong's (
"Soong and President Chen Shui-bian (
In addition, Soong never said that he will not discuss his trip to China with the government. So we do not have to worry about it yet," Hsieh said.
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