Sat, Sep 15, 2001 page2

• Scholars say it's too early to throw out Lu

  BITTER STRUGGLE At a National Policy Foundation symposium, scholars said they don't approve of the vice president's performance yet don't want to see her sacked

  • By Crystal Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Though frowning on her performance, politicians and scholars attending a seminar yesterday stopped short of suggesting that Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) should be removed from her position to ensure harmony in the Presidential Office.

  "Lu has raised many eyebrows with unbecoming speeches," DPP lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said at the meeting, sponsored by the National Policy Foundation, a KMT think tank.

  Lin had earlier openly proposed scrapping the position of vice president from the country's political system.

  The blunt-speaking Lu has complained publicly on several occasions about being unfairly left out of the loop by aides close to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

  Recently, she singled out Presidential Secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun, faulting him for failing to consult her when preparing next year's budget for her housing.

  "Though irritating, Lu's complaints have caused no harm to government policymaking thus far," Lin said, adding that history is fraught with altercations between national leaders at home and abroad.

  He noted it is widely known that late president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) had bitter struggles with his two vice presidents, Lee Chung-jen (李忠仁) and Chen Cheng (陳誠), in the 1940s and 1950s, respectively.

  "Even former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) did not always see eye to eye with his political patron Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as demonstrated in last year's presidential race, when Lien's aides repeatedly called on Lee to cede his party leadership to Lien," he said.

  Still, the DPP legislator said it may not be such a bad idea to do away with the office of vice president as the position is redundant in countries with a parliamentary system.

  He urged different parties to consider the issue when debating what political system best fits the nation, but opposed calling a constitutional assembly for the sole purpose of deciding Lu's fate.

  Wu Tung-yeh (吳東野), a political scientist at National Chengchi University, told the symposium that even countries with a presidential system such as Austria, Finland and Bulgaria, do not have a vice president.

  Vice presidents generally serve at the pleasure of the president, he added. Citing a US study, he said that good deputies always toe the line, share the dirty work but never complain to the press or take credit for themselves.

  "Judging by that criteria, Lu has done a poor job in the past 16 months, as she has repeatedly challenged Chen's policies," Wu said.

  Lu has frequently made statements contradicting Chen's policy stands, domestic and foreign. She was particularly unhappy about proposals to relax controls on China-bound investment and implement direct links across the Taiwan Strait.

  Wu Chih-kuang (吳志光), an assistant law professor from Fu Jen Catholic University, said he disliked Lu but found the proposal to sack her through constitutional reform equally disturbing.

  "It is neither legitimate nor justified to tinker with the nation's charter to remove an unpopular official," the scholar said. "That would undo the principle of lawmaking."

  However, he questioned the virtue of keeping vice presidents in government, saying most of them enter office as "a free gift" and may have difficulty filling the power vacuum created by the unexpected departure of a president.

  "The concern must not be taken lightly, as we may have a president and vice president with different political affiliations in the future," Wu Chih-Kuang said.

  Spencer Yang (楊泰順), who teaches political science at Chinese Culture University, said it was better for the country's fledgling democracy to mature of its own accord.

  "Conflicts are not always bad for democratic progress," said Yang, a vocal critic of Lu. "Let's observe them for a while longer before making a final judgment."
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