Through his aides, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chinese-language media yesterday carried front-page stories quoting unnamed officials from the Presidential Office as saying the partisan confrontation over the past year was "a problem [created] by one person" who still holds a grudge against the DPP for his election defeat last year.
The officials said the DPP government has maintained good relations with both the PFP and many senior KMT officials, including party Vice Chairmen Vincent Siew (
The officials also hinted that there may be room for cooperation between the DPP and PFP after Saturday's elections.
The officials said KMT officials and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) initially showed flexibility on a wide range of issues over the past year, but later changed their positions due to Lien's intervention.
The issues cited include the work-hours dispute, the choice of Chen's special emissary to last year's APEC summit, the opposition alliance's drive to recall Chen following the DPP government's decision to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the opposition boycott of a national security briefing held after the Sept. 11 attacks on the US and Chen's recent proposal for a "cross-party alliance for national stability."
On the APEC issue, Siew initially agreed to represent Chen at the summit but later rescinded due to Lien's objections, the officials said.
Also, Soong initially agreed to attend the national security meeting following the terrorist attacks but later backtracked for the same reason, the officials said.
The report also quoted the unnamed officials as saying they believe Soong and most KMT officials are open to the idea of cooperating with the DPP.
The officials also said they believed Lien will change his position after the elections, in which the KMT is likely to lose more than one-third of its legislative seats.
Some local newspapers commented yesterday that Chen may be trying to prevent the KMT and PFP from jointly forming a legislative majority alliance, which would then try to wrest the power to form the Cabinet from Chen.
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