Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday answered President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call for the elimination of party factions by saying he would not run for a seat on the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Standing Committee.
"Although I have obtained strong enough support from the party grassroots to sit on the committee, I would like instead to pass this opportunity on to the younger generation," Su said.
He said Chen had supported his decision.
"I will also decline to seek an executive post at DPP Central Headquarters," Su added.
Su said that Chen had assigned him a new task: to serve as spokesman for the Presidential Office.
Su also spoke on other issues yesterday at the Presidential Office press conference, including his role in the 2008 presidential election, his party's reform agenda and plans for constitutional revision.
Currently the DPP's top choice to succeed Chen, Su emphasized that throughout his career he had remained neutral when in office.
He said that in all his years in the party he had never mobilized factional support when running for a party post, "and when I served as the party's secretary-general, my performance was praised as one that maintained both fairness and justice."
Fearing the growth and increasing influence of the New Tide faction, a number of party heavyweights recently came together to propose that the party's factions be disbanded.
Chen last week urged that party leaders should accept responsibility for initiating this process by revoking factional membership.
Su, however, spoke in support of factions, and is a member of a faction himself -- the "Welfare State" group, which was founded by Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
He has also received firm support from New Tide, which is expected to attempt to play the role of kingmaker for the 2008 presidential race.
Su spoke in defense of New Tide, saying that competition within the party should be regarded as a positive motivating force and one that would allow the party to move forward. He said that if there was too great a focus on the issue of factional intrigue, it would simply corrode the party's vision.
"Indeed, the DPP should carry out some reforms," Su said. "But it's like house cleaning: we should not put all our efforts into pulling out nails from the wall if they are unpleasant to look at, while forgetting to sweep the floor," Su said.
"Moreover, we should be pragmatic and remember that on those nails once hung beautiful paintings," he said.
Su said that after completing discussions with staff at the Presidential Office on the allocation of tasks relating to constitutional reform, he would proceed to a second phase and call upon leaders of various fields to listen to their suggestions.
As for the 2008 presidential election, Su spoke cautiously, saying that the "script of life" had already been written, the content of which no one could read in advance.
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