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War of words on Chen ouster heats up

Accusations continued to multiply over Premier Su Tseng-chang's (蘇貞昌) alleged role in attempting to force President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) resignation from office during last year's anti-Chen campaign.

Former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said yesterday that although Chen had publicly dismissed speculation that Su had tried to force him from office, most of what Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said during the TV debate on Saturday was true.

"I have never seen an occasion when the president had to make such a difficult decision," Koo said.

Koo made the remarks before attending a forum organized by Taiwan Thinktank to discuss a draft of the "second republic" constitution.

Yu surprised many on Saturday when he criticized Su during a televised debate for threatening to resign if Chen refused to accept two conditions -- that he step down if first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) were convicted of graft and forgery and that he allow 15 DPP legislators to support opposition lawmakers' proposal to unseat him. Chen later adopted the first proposal, which he announced publicly.

Yu, however, said during the debate that he had been the one to come up with the idea that Chen should step down if the first lady were convicted.

Yu also alleged that Su had planned to meet former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to discuss Chen's exit strategy.

Koo yesterday said that Chen had told him he was being forced to choose between stepping down and allowing 15 DPP legislators to support opposition lawmakers' recall motion.

Koo, however, said Chen had never told him that Su had used either of these propositions to threaten him.

Chen yesterday said that up until yesterday's debate he had not known that the proposition that he step down should his wife be convicted had been Yu's idea.

Chen stood by his story that Su had not tried to force him to resign and insisted there had been no Su-Ma meeting. Chen said that when Su came to see him on Nov. 4 last year, Su told him he would be willing to step down if necessary. But Su did not mention anything about wanting him to resign if his wife were convicted, Chen said.

Regarding the Su-Ma meeting, Chen said that since the meeting never happened, there was no point in discussing the issue.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), the first of the DPP's presidential hopefuls to imply that Su had tried to force Chen from office, sought to score points yesterday.

She proposed establishing a "truth finding commission" to investigate the matter and find out who had made the proposition that Chen should step down if Wu were convicted.

She said she would also like to know whether someone had tried to convince both Chen and Su to resign.

During a press conference held by Su yesterday to defend himself, Su said that there is only one truth. He called for unity and urged his party competitors to refrain from twisting the facts to score electoral points.

Su said the planned meeting with Ma and six other political leaders fell flat because the KMT refused to drop its request that Chen be recalled.

Su said that since Yu had already admitted he was the one who proposed that Chen should resign if Wu were convicted, the truth on the matter was therefore evident.
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