Tue, Oct 30, 2001 page1

• Missing files at NSC start war of words

  DIRTY GAME An aide to the president yesterday sought to clarify why Chen said that secret documents were not handed over to his government when it assumed power last year

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Opposition politicians yesterday filed a lawsuit against former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for hiding top-secret documents.

  The case was filed in reaction to remarks made by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in a new book, in which Chen said that many files from the old government were not handed over to the DPP at the time of the transfer of power in May last year.

  The Presidential Office yesterday was trying to defuse possible tension between Chen and Lee, who are political allies in the legislative election campaign.

  Chen, in his new book The Premier Voyage of the Century (世紀首航) -- which will appear on bookshelves later this week -- said that "not a single document was left in the National Security Council after the transferral of power."

  This has widely been interpreted as criticism that the outgoing KMT government was trying to leave the upcoming administration at an information disadvantage, as well as perhaps hide some of its less seemly behavior.

  However, a source in the Presidential Office yesterday said Chen's statement wasn't meant to accuse the former government of any wrongdoing, but aimed to show the need to create institutions and guidelines for future transfers of political power.

  "During the process of handing over power ... we don't think the former government refused to hand over the files, they probably did not know exactly what files to hand over," the source from the Presidential Office told the Taipei Times.

  The source said that after Chen took office on May 20 last year, cross-strait relations and Taiwan's international status were under intense pressure.

  But the president, while chairing the NSC meeting to review old files -- in order to understand how the national collective security mechanism can be activated at a time of national crisis -- found that the new government was completely lacking in "standard operating procedures" to deal with crises.

  "During the transfer of political power, we had to consult with foreign allies, such as South Korean officials and the US government," the source said, "and we even found out that in 1992, President George Bush senior did not necessarily hand over every file to the newly elected President Bill Clinton."

  According to the new book, Chen said that last year's power transfer was completely lacking in any form of institutionalized process, as most governmental agencies were unwilling to cooperate with the new DPP government.

  "The fact that there was not a single document left in the National Security Council highlights the problems the staff working in the Presidential Office have to deal with every day, as most administrative departments were reluctant to be our partners," Chen wrote.

  Both former chiefs of the NSC have said, however, that Chen's statement was false and that all files and documents had been thoroughly organized and were delivered to the DPP government.

  "All the files and documents I have handled since I took the position in 1993 -- up until I stepped down last May 20 -- have been sorted out and accounted for by the DPP government during the transfer of power," the former chairman of the NSC, Yin Tsung-wen (殷宗文), said in a press release last week.

  Yin stressed that the highly confidential documents were handed over by the deputy secretary-generals and senior advisors to the NSC.

  A close aide to Chung Min-yao (莊明耀), Chen's first NSC chairman, under condition of anonymity also said yesterday that when the new administration started to function, they had reviewed old files successfully. But he was not aware whether the confidential files which Chen referred to existed because he did not handle such matters.Also See Editorial Inside

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