Mon, Jan 15, 2001 page3

• Opposition says premier must go

  NUCLEAR PLANT RULING An alliance of opposition parties say they will try to force the premier to step down after the Council of Grand Justices announces its ruling on the Cabinet's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  An alliance of opposition party members yesterday said that they would seek to force the resignation of Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) in the wake of a constitutional interpretation, to be delivered today, of the Executive Yuan's controversial decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

  The ruling is widely expected to fall short of declaring the premiers action unconstitutional while nevertheless suggesting that correct procedures were not followed.

  The three major opposition parties said they would address a statement to the DPP government asking it to "obey and uphold the ROC Constitution."

  "Even if the constitutional interpretation just asks the Cabinet to obtain the Legislative Yuan's approval before declaring the halt of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, it can be regarded as ruling that the government's decision was unconstitutional," said KMT spokesman Jason Hu (胡志強).

  Council of Grand Justice sources said on Friday that the interpretation will not explicitly say whether the Cabinet's decision was unconstitutional but will say that the Executive Yuan should have followed necessary procedures by first presenting the decision to the Legislative Yuan.

  The DPP, therefore, believes that it will not be necessary to replace the premier but only to smooth over its past procedural errors.

  "The premier is willing to make a report [on the decision] at the Legislative Yuan and then wait for a decision made by all lawmakers about whether to pass the DPP government's new policy," said DPP legislative caucus leader Lee Wen-chung (李文忠). "It was opposition parties who voted to refuse to allow Premier Chang from entering the Legislative Yuan," Lee added.

  Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), however, said yesterday that the Legislative Yuan will not accept the premier's request to present the decision to the legislature.

  "If the interpretation clearly says that the Cabinet was at fault for not following procedures, then the premier has to take responsibility for those faults," Wang said.

  Government Information Office Director-General Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平) yesterday would only reaffirm that the basic attitude of the Executive Yuan [Cabinet] is "to respect the interpretation" of the Grand Justices, declining to comment on whether Chang would step down from his post.

  The Presidential Office and the DPP also declined to speculate on the impending ruling.

  Some political analysts foresee a new round of political tensions if the ruling finds the government's decision was not in compliance with constitutional procedure.

  The government abruptly announced its decision to stop construction of the plant, already 30 percent complete, last October, without first obtaining approval from the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan.

  Scholars said that the constitutional interpretation would only bring about new political struggles between the opposition party and the ruling party and would not encourage a rational discussion on the issue of Taiwan's energy policy.

  "There is no sign that the vicious fights between the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan will end after the constitutional interpretation," said Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), deputy director of the Institute of International Relations.

  "What those politicians care about is ensuring that the government takes responsibility for the recent chaos, not debating the question of whether Taiwan really needs a new nuclear power plant," Wu added.
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