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Premier rebuffs criticism of Cabinet's performance

"We will never sacrifice our environment just to build a freeway."

Premier Su Tseng-chang

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday tried to defend himself after facing attacks from former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) over the performance of his Cabinet team.

"Is it fair that they blame everything on me?" Su said. "I would not have to fix all the problems if the former premier had done a good job, would I?"

Su made the remarks when he was approached by reporters in response to Hsieh's and Yeh's complaints about his policies as premier during the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday.

"It's natural that criticisms are made during campaign activities," said Su, who is competing with Hsieh, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun for the party's nomination for next year's presidential election.

"But, it is not right to criticize others by making up stories, is it?", he added.

Hsieh and Yeh complained about the Suao-Hualien Freeway construction project and questioned whether Su had wasted government money due to the delay in the completion of its construction.

"We are not delaying it. The entire evaluation for environmental protection is still being processed. We will not do anything before the evaluation is done and granted," Su said.

"Transportation is very important. But we will never sacrifice our environment just to build a freeway. Protecting our environment will always be our priority at all times," he said.

Su said that a premier is supposed to listen to a range of opinions.

"It is a premier's job to stay low profile and try his best to make everything right," Su added.
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