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Yu, Hsieh absent as DPP celebrates 21st anniversary

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung, third left, President Chen Shui-bian, fourth left, Vice President Annette Lu, fifth left, and other guests yesterday prepare to cut the cake at an event celebrating the Democratic Progressive Party's 21st anniversary at Taipei's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, where the party was formally established in 1986. PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) celebrated the 21st anniversary yesterday of its founding with a cocktail party presided over by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in Taipei yesterday.

The celebration, which took place at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel and drew a number of representatives from foreign missions stationed in Taiwan, was overshadowed by the absence of party chairman Yu Shyi-kun, however.

Yu resigned at around midnight on Wednesday night to protest against the party's passage of a moderate "normal country" resolution, which was approved by the DPP Central Executive Committee on Thursday.

DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), also did not attend.

When approached by reporters, Hsieh's campaign manager Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) declined to comment on Hsieh's whereabouts.

DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also remained tight-lipped on Yu's whereabouts.

It was not clear whether the president had arranged a meeting to coordinate talks between Yu and Hsieh yesterday.

Yu's resignation on Wednesday caught many in the DPP off-guard because Yu, who promised to step down over his indictment on Sept. 21 for allegedly misusing his special allowance fund, had said he would stay on as DPP chairman until the party's national congress, which begins tomorrow.

Yu had said on Wednesday that he, Hsieh, Chen and DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) reached a consensus on changing the wording of the party's final "normal country" resolution draft approved on Aug. 30.

They agreed to amend the draft, which originally stated that "the nation should correct its name and write a new constitution as soon as possible," by stipulating that the nation should "accomplish rectification of `Taiwan' as soon as possible and write a new constitution."

At a press conference on Thursday, however, Yu said that he had felt there was no choice but to agree to the consensus, which he called "ambiguous."

"As the party chairman, I've lost the freedom to embrace expectations and dreams for Taiwan," Yu said on Thursday, adding that removing concrete articles stipulating "Taiwan" as the national title had stripped away the spirit of the resolution.

In response to Yu's abrupt resignation, Hsieh said on Thursday that the government had the responsibility to thoroughly review possible consequences before proposing a major policy.

When asked for comment yesterday, Huang Ching-lin (黃慶林), a member of DPP's Central Standing Committee who is close to Yu, said: "The wrangling within the party has been fierce."

"If the president had not decided to come [to the reception,] I would not have come, either," he said.
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