President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will meet Control Yuan members for tea today after the government watchdog expressed an interest in questioning the president over the Taipei MRT system’s problem-plagued Wenshan-Neihu Line.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma took the initiative to invite Control Yuan members to the Presidential Office to avoid causing a constitutional controversy.
While the Control Yuan does not have the power to impeach a sitting president, it is not clear if it has the power to summon the president for questioning about alleged irregularities in previous positions of authority.
Neither the Presidential Office nor the Control Yuan has filed a request for a constitutional interpretation from the Council of Grand Justices.
If Ma were summoned for questioning he would be the first sitting president to be questioned by the Control Yuan. The president extended the invitation so that Control Yuan members could discuss the Wenshan-Neihu Line, which was approved during Ma’s tenure as Taipei mayor.
“It shows the president is open-minded about the matter and willing to communicate with Control Yuan members,” Wang said.
The meeting will be closed-door, but Wang said background information could be provided afterward if necessary.
Control Yuan members questioned Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) over the MRT line on Nov. 11 and said that they did not rule out questioning Ma.
The line connecting Muzha and Neihu has experienced several malfunctions and system breakdowns, while the city government has been accused of rushing the trial period and opening the line before making sure the system was running smoothly.
During his interview with the Control Yuan in November, Hau told Control Yuan members that the city government did not put the line into operation ahead of schedule or shorten the line’s trial period. Hau blamed the line’s frequent shutdowns on the initial design, without elaborating.
In addition to the line, Hau’s administration was recently censured by the Control Yuan over the construction of the Maokong Gondola, which was built during Ma’s time as Taipei mayor. The system has been shut down since the foundations of a support pillar were eroded during a typhoon in 2008.
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) will interview Ma in her capacity as founder of Formosa Weekly on Thursday, Wang confirmed yesterday, making it Ma’s first official interview with the former vice president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since he took office in May 2008.
Formosa Weekly said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that the interview, scheduled for 3:30pm tomorrow, would focus on such issues as national identity, foreign affairs, national defense, cross-strait relations, the economy and domestic affairs.
It said they wanted to know exactly where Ma intends to take the country because many people have felt a sense of insecurity since the transfer of government.
The statement said the Republic of China on Taiwan has become a de facto and de jure independent sovereignty since the Taiwanese people elected their national leader on March 23, 1996.
“Is it possible for the ruling and opposition parties to consolidate under the ‘1992 consensus’ and use it as the foundation of national status and Taiwan identification?” it asked.
On cross-strait affairs, it said it wanted to know whether there had been any under-the-table deals because the administration has dodged legislative oversight over the past year and all the cross-strait agreements signed so far had failed to obtain the consent of the legislative body before they came into force.
It was also curious about how the Democratic Progressive Party could have more participation in cross-strait affairs so they could supervise the government.
As Lu has proposed that Ma call a national affairs meeting to integrate opinions from the ruling and opposition parties, the publication said it wanted to ask whether Ma would consider doing so, especially when it comes to controversial policies.
On the economy, it said they wanted to know exactly how Ma plans to address the problem of low tax revenues and high government debt as well as the gap between the rich and poor and unfair allocation of national resources.
The interview will be published in the 36th issue available on Feb. 11, the statement said.
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