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Lee is not avoiding the president, says TSU

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday dismissed media speculation that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) would deliberately avoid appearing at the same time as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at a 228 Incident memorial event tomorrow.

TSU Secretary-General Chien Cheng-shan (錢橙山) told a press conference that Lee, the TSU's spiritual leader, did not speak about the matter during a gathering with him on Sunday and therefore "there was no such issue."

Chiang Yueh-chin (蔣月琴), the TSU's spokeswoman, said Lee was scheduled to give a talk at a choral event held by the Hand-in-Hand To Safeguard Taiwan Alliance in Ketagalan Boulevard to mark the 60th anniversary of the incident.

She said the schedule for the event was arranged by the alliance and the TSU did not have any say in the order of events.

Chien said that Lee respected the alliance's arrangements.

In interviews with Next Magazine and TVBS late last month, Lee admitted he had been on bad terms with Chen for some period of time. As a result, whether the pair would attend the choir event together drew the focus of the media yesterday.

Chien also criticized Chen over a report that appeared in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) yesterday, which quoted Chen as saying that he was bewildered by Lee's recent comments that Lee had never advocated Taiwanese independence.

Lee said in the interviews that Taiwanese independence was a non issue because Taiwan was already an independent country.

The story also quoted Chen as saying that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had been taking a "left of the center" approach to look after minorities since the transfer of power in 2000.

Chien, however, challenged Chen's comments.

"Lee did not change [his stance on Taiwanese independence]. He has always fought for Taiwanese consciousness and sovereignty," he said, adding that the DPP's Resolutions Concerning Taiwan's Future passed in 1999 also stipulate that Taiwan is an independent state.

He also questioned whether the DPP had really taken good care of the nation's minorities over the past seven years.

In related news, the TSU publicized its first legislative nomination list yesterday. A total of 17 candidates will take part in the year-end legislative elections, including current TSU Legislators David Huang (黃適卓), Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) and Lo Chih-ming (羅志明).

A party official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the party had been discussing with former DPP vice interior minister Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹), about recruiting her as one of the TSU's legislative candidates.
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