Tue, Jun 20, 2006 page3

• President to address the public tonight

  TELEVISED DEFENSE The Presidential Office said that Chen would deliver a point-by-point response to the opposition-launched recall motion in a live, televised broadcast

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is scheduled to respond to the opposition-initiated recall motion tonight, not as a rebuttal statement made directly to the legislature, but in a public address to the nation.

  "The president has decided to deal with the matter in a responsible manner," said Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山). "He will report directly to the people at 8pm at the auditorium of the Presidential Office and the event will be broadcast live on TV."

  Mark Chen made the remark yesterday afternoon while attending an event held by the Presidential Office press corps.

  The legislature is scheduled to kick off its four-day review of the recall proposal tomorrow and vote on it next Tuesday.

  The motion is considered unlikely to pass given the high threshold required -- two-thirds support in the legislature and a majority of eligible voters in a nationwide referendum -- but the pan-blue camp has said it hopes to pressure the president into resigning.

  Mark Chen said the president would respond point by point to the "10 crimes" listed by the opposition as a justification for their recall motion.

  The accusations include corruption, abuse of power, instigation of political confrontation, obstruction of justice, suppression of the media and incompetent governance of the country.

  Describing the 10 justifications as "irrational," Mark Chen said that the pan-blue alliance had used them to first deceive themselves and then try to convince the public that they were legitimate.

  As no evidence has proven that the first family are guilty of any corruption, Mark Chen said the pan-blue camp had to come up with flimsy rationales such as "incompetence" for the recall.

  "Recalling the president is a serious matter, but the pan-blue camp is using the recall bid to pursue their political agenda at the expense of national stability and people's livelihood," he said.

  Mark Chen also criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for saying that there would be a transfer of power in 2008.

  "It not only reveals his political ambitions, but also threatens prosecutors and investigators to toe the line of the pan-blue camp or face retaliation if they come to power in 2008," he said.

  Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said that he was not sure how long the president would speak tonight, but was certain that President Chen would spend time clearly responding to the recall motion.

  "I believe that the president will make his stance so clearly known that the media will not have any questions for him afterwards," he said, responding to media inquiry about whether there would be a question-and-answer session after the president's address.

  While some of the corruption scandals implicating the first family and Chen's in-laws are still the subject of judicial processes, Cho said the president would not offer any details or analysis of those cases but would instead make known his own position and attitude.

  "The corruption allegations will be a focal point of his public address, but not the only focus," Cho said.

  He added he hoped the president's public address would help usher in a more harmonious atmosphere to the political arena.

  "We hope the opposition parties will be more cooperative after listening to the president's explanation," Cho said. "We'd like to see them focus their attention on passing bills concerning people's livelihood and hopefully, cancel the scheduled review sessions and votes."
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