Wed, Mar 07, 2007 page3

• President says remarks made his policies `memorable'

  • By Ko Shu-ling and Flora Wang / STAFF REPORTERS
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday elaborated on remarks he made over the weekend on seeking de jure independence, saying the issue was intertwined with two of his main policy goals.

  Chen caused a stir on Sunday when he told attendants at the Formosan Association for Public Affairs' 25th anniversary dinner that "Taiwan will say yes to independence, Taiwan will be correctly named, Taiwan will have a new constitution, Taiwan will develop. There is no left-right political axis in Taiwan, just the question of independence or assimilation."

  Chen said yesterday the remarks were in line with his policy goals to "insist on Taiwanese consciousness" and to "work for social fairness and justice."

  "I've been thinking for quite some time and think it is necessary for me to elaborate on the two aspects," he said. "That is why I made the comments on Sunday. They made the policy goals more organized and memorable."

  Chen said he hoped a clearer picture of the policy goals would help consolidate a public consensus to work for the progress of the country.

  Chen made the remarks while addressing a Lunar New Year gathering of members of industrial and commercial groups in Taipei yesterday afternoon.

  Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday refused to engage in a war of words with Chen, but said that Chen was responsible for the plunge of the stock market.

  TAIEX fell 3.74 percent on Monday amid market weakness across the region following Wall Street's slide last week. Some blamed the plunge on the remark Chen made on Sunday.

  Some believed Chen's speech was an attack against Lee, who recently said independence was not an issue because Taiwan was already independent.

  When approached by reporters for further comments in Taoyuan yesterday, Lee said the fall of the stock market had a lot to do with Chen's comment.

  Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday gave herself a pat on the back for having a "golden mouth" for correctly predicting yesterday's stock market surge.

  Lu predicted on Monday that her announcement to run in the party primary for next year's presidential election yesterday would help boost the stock market. TAIEX rose yesterday by 106.5 points.

  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday urged prosecutors to investigate whether Chen made his remarks on Sunday in a bid to help the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or others profit from the TAIEX plunge the next day.

  KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) told a press conference that Chen should be suspected of deliberately causing a stir in the stock market because every individual investor lost about NT$90,000 after the TAIEX closed down 285.59 points at 7,344.56 on Monday.

  In response, DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told another press conference that if the KMT's logic held true, the pan-blue camp should also give Chen the credit for the rise of the TAIEX yesterday.

  Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman David Wang (王建業) yesterday said the ministry had issued on Monday night an explanation of the president's Sunday remarks to all the embassies and representative offices.

  The explaination said the president's remarks were aimed at expounding the direction of Taiwan's national development and were a reflection of China's suppression.

  Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said He Shizhong (何世忠), director of the economic bureau of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, visiting in Taiwan, did not change his itinerary, which showed that cross-strait relations had not been influenced by the president's words.

  Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
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