Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday confirmed that Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
"After 30 minutes of painstaking persuasion, I'm happy to announce that Minister Tang agreed to stay on in his post, until I lead Cabinet officials in our official resignation before President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration ceremony on May 20," Yu told reporters during a tea party at the Cabinet complex yesterday afternoon.
Accompanied by Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
Although Tang has cited health reasons for wanting to resign on several occasions since then, Yu said that Tang had reached consensus with the president that he would stay on in his position.
Tang broached the subject again five days before the election and arranged to visit the premier at Yu's official residence at 11am on Sunday.
The meeting, however, was called off because of the massive gathering of angry pan-blue supporters outside the Presidential Office to protest the election result.
Tang then handed his written letter of resignation to Yu yesterday morning before checking in to the Tri-Service General Hospital (
Responding to protesters' request that the ballots be recounted immediately, Yu said that it was beyond his authority to do so, because the matter had become a legal one.
"The best thing I can do is to call on the Judicial Yuan to expedite the administrative procedure and recount the ballots as soon as possible in accordance with the law," Yu said.
Yu also dismissed the accusation lodged by the Taipei City Government that the Cabinet remained aloof in resolving the incident and let the city handle the matter alone.
"The charge is totally untrue," Yu said. "As we do everything in accordance with the law, it's impossible for us to do something encroaching on the authority of local governments."
While the central government has offered all possible assistance to the city to jointly resolve the problem, Yu said the opposition camp had refused help.
Lin said that Yu had telephoned Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) at around 4:30am on Sunday, offering to help when pan-blue supporters started to congregate outside the pan-blue campaign headquarters. Yu then phoned Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at about 6:30am when the group proceeded to the Presidential Office, and again offered help.
"Every competition has its own rules, and so does the election," Lin said. "While we'd be happy to take some of their suggestions into consideration, we'd really hate to see politics override the rule of law."
Yu reiterated that the Cabinet would handle the incident with a soft approach and openly, transparently and carefully, as instructed by the president.
Although Yu said that he was confident the protest would soon be settled, he was worried about the impact the incident may have on society, the economy and the nation's international image.
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