The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday called on the pan-blue camp not to harbor any fantasies about China, while pan-blue lawmakers lambasted President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for revealing the nation's financial assistance to Senegal, a former diplomatic ally.
"I'm calling on the public to unite and recognize Beijing's two-handed strategy," DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said. "While their government officials drank red wine with former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) during his visit to China, they stole our diplomatic ally, Senegal, on Retrocession Day, the day Japan ended its colonial rule over Taiwan."
Lai made the remark yesterday morning in response to comments by the pan-blue alliance of the KMT and the People First Party (PFP).
The two opposition caucuses criticized the president for disclosing in a speech that the government had spent NT$5 billion (US$148 million) on Senegal over the past decade. In the speech, the president also criticized Lien for "toadying" to Beijing, saying that the price paid for him to hold two of China's giant pandas was NT$2.5 billion each.
Lien visited China last month, where he and his wife visited a panda research center and were photographed holding two pandas.
Claiming that the president had violated the Law of National Secrets Protection (國家機密保護法), the PFP caucus requested the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) if he failed to report to the caucus within two days and answer two questions.
The first question was whether the government had spent that much in attempting to consolidate diplomatic ties with Senegal, and the second was whether Lien's visit to China had anything to do with the severing of diplomatic ties with Senegal.
The caucus also pledged to team up with the KMT to slash the foreign ministry's budget for next year.
The president enjoys criminal immunity, and Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) said that his caucus was not planning any recall or impeachment campaign for the moment.
Hwang, however, threatened to take "appropriate action" once amendments to the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) are passed into law.
The PFP caucus is gearing up to push for the passage of revisions to the law, which would empower lawmakers to exercise the right of investigation, including summoning the president.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), who once served as foreign minister, criticized the foreign ministry for failing to stay on top of information and condemned the president for divulging classified diplomatic information.
Chiang asked Mark Chen to brief the legislature's Foreign Affairs Committee on the matter.
Chiang also vowed to freeze the foreign ministry's budget if it failed to help the president come up with a candidate to replace Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), as his envoy to the APEC leaders' summit in Busan, South Korea next week.
Seoul has objected to the selection of Wang as the president's envoy.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said on Thursday that the ministry has recommended a candidate to replace Wang.
He furthermore said that the president's announcement that Taiwan contributed NT$5 billion in foreign aid to Senegal over the last 10 years was an "accurate estimate" as it "is within the [government's] general pattern of ODA [Overseas Development Assistance] operation."
He said that Taiwan spent around NT$3 billion every year in aid to its African allies, and Senegal received around NT$500 million a year.
---Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
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