The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed speculation that Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) would step down if recent scandals plaguing the first family are not resolved within three months.
Chinese-language newspapers including the China Times and the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) ran reports yesterday and Monday based on what they said was a remark Lu made on Sunday night in Taoyuan County.
The Presidential Office issued a statement yesterday stating that Lu had simply been urging government officials to be more aggressive in probing the scandals.
"The vice president made the remark because she thought the media had blown recent allegations against the first family out of proportion and seriously damaged the image of the Presidential Office and the government," the statement read.
Lu's aim, the statement said, was to see the Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Justice, the Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency join forces in the administration's fight against corruption so that public confidence could be restored.
Included in the statement was the text of Lu's talk.
"The reason that the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] came to power in 2000 is because the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] was corrupt," Lu said. "The reason that the DPP has been condemned by the public is because some DPP members have failed to live up to public expectations, forcing the president and I to shoulder the responsibility."
While Lu said the administration would humbly accept criticism, she reminded the public of the scandals that occurred during the KMT's reign.
"I don't think the pot should call the kettle black," she said.
She said it was unusual that the nation's top officials, including the president, vice president, premier, Examination Yuan president and chairmen of the opposition parties, had all studied law and that most were graduates of National Taiwan University's Law School.
"Our politicians should be law-abiding and our politics clean, but I am ashamed to see so many scandals," she said. "To be honest with you, if the situation continues, I don't want to be a vice president."
Lu asked the judicial authorities and police to beef up their investigation efforts over the next three months and also called on the public to monitor the government's performance during this period.
"You don't want to disappoint me and [force me to] step down with you, do you?" she asked.
Lu's comments have created quite a stir among legislators.
KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (
But Pan said Lu's resignation would not be a solution to the problem, nor would it eliminate Presidential Office corruption.
"If Lu resigns, she would be a person with a sense of justice. The question is whether President Chen Shui-bian (
"Chen should nominate a state public prosecutor-general as soon as possible to investigate into all the corruption allegations against the Presidential Office," Pan said.
People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said Lu should go ahead and resign.
"Lu should take the lead in stepping down to take responsibility for the DPP's scandals, which could [in turn] boost the party's morale."
DPP caucus members, however, had different takes on the matter.
Caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (
But DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said he was surprised by Lu's remarks and thought Lu's good intentions might not be able to resolve the crisis the DPP is facing now.
"I don't understand why Vice President Lu set three months as a time limit. But I'm worried that people cannot wait that long," Huang said.
"We hope that vice president stays with us and we can resolve the problems together," he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and Jewel Huang
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS