Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday said he knew nothing about members of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) taking up Cabinet positions in the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) government after December's legislative elections.
Lee's statements came after a report in a Chinese-language daily that Lee and President Chen Shui-bian (
The newspaper reported that Lee had promoted the idea to Chen that, if the TSU and DPP were able together to win a majority in the Legislative Yuan, that positions in the Cabinet should be made available for the TSU.
Lee said yesterday that he knew nothing about any such arrangement.
"I am already retired, so don't ask me about politics. I don't know anything," Lee said when responding to media questions about the report.
Lee was not alone in declining to discuss possible Cabinet arrangements: A TSU legislator said that it is too early now to start thinking about Cabinet positions.
"Chen has in fact met Lee on a few occasions since the beginning of the year, but they did not talk about whether the TSU would be represented in the Cabinet. There is no such thing as a Cabinet-sharing plan, as was reported in the media," TSU Legislator Cheng cheng-lung (
"For the parties in the pan-green camp to share Cabinet posts, the two parties together would have to win a majority in the legislative elections, and the TSU would need to have suitable candidates. But for now, when the TSU and the DPP still don't know how many seats the two parties will hold, it is really too early to talk about forming a Cabinet together," Cheng said.
Cheng Wen-tsan (
"The most important thing now is to secure, between the DPP and the TSU, a majority. It's too early to talk about the Cabinet," Cheng said.
"The Cabinet will resign after the legislative elections. How the Cabinet will be composed at that point can only be discussed after the election results are known. Right now both parties should concentrate on the nomination process and on the campaign so we can win a majority," Tseng said.
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