President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to meet with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayors and county commissioners today to consolidate the government’s position on issues related to the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Ma will chair the meeting in his capacity as KMT chairman, party policy committee chief Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝), Atomic Energy Council Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) and related government officials are also to attend the KMT meeting, Lin said.
On Thursday, the Presidential Office turned down a joint request from Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and other mayors and commissioners of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in five cities and counties to meet with Ma to discuss possible solutions that could end the indefinite hunger strike by former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄).
Lin went on an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday against the construction of the hugely controversial nuclear facility until the construction is terminated to meet the expectations of the majority of the people.
The Presidential Office suggested that the six DPP local officials schedule a meeting with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) first.
The DPP has proposed two ways to have Lin end the fast — that the legislature gives its consent to the Executive Yuan’s proposal to stop the construction or that the legislature enacts a special statue to allow for a referendum on the issue, without being subject to what it called the existing unreasonable thresholds, such as that 50 percent of the population must participate.
Refusing to agree to the demands, the Ma administration has insisted on continuing construction of the plant and ongoing safety checks and tests until completion, but said that it will not install fuel rods and will not activate the plant until a referendum is held to decide that the plant can be put into operation.
The administration insisted that a referendum on the nuclear issue is to be held in accordance with the existing Referendum Act (公民投票法), but said it was open to discussion about the DPP’s proposed special statute.
Separately yesterday, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who failed to reach any consensus during his 90-minute talk with Ma on Friday over the Gongliao plant, said he was disappointed with the meeting.
“I was invited to discuss the issue with Ma at the Presidential Office, but the information Ma prepared for the meeting was not to solve the problem, but rather for a debate,” Su said.
“While I tried to focus on the problem during the meeting, Ma kept talking about things from the past,” he added.
“I still expect Ma to resolve the issue because as the leader of the country, he is responsible for preventing the country and society from descending into chaos,” he added.
In response to a reporter’s question whether the meeting between him and Ma was like two children arguing, Su said: “I am sorry, I felt disappointed too.Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) joined the meeting and the two of them jointly attacked me.”
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
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