Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian urged all parties Tuesday to engage in rational policy discussion and return to democratic politics and the constitutional system to resolve the dispute over the fourth nuclear power plant.
Chen said that whether or not to continue the construction of the controversial plant is in the spectrum of public policies and that any dispute over it should be resolved in a democratic and rational manner.
Chen made the remarks while meeting with former U.S. Congressman Stephen Solarz, vice chairman and co-founder of the New York-based International Crisis Group (ICG), a private non-profit organization formed to strengthen the international community's ability to prevent international crises.
Solarz, a big supporter of the Republic of China who sees the country as a very strong democracy, is currently on a short visit to Taiwan. He has visited Taiwan many times in his previous capacity as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
During the meeting, Chen had a full exchange of views with Solarz over crisis management. He said his philosophy of managing crises is to be well prepared, and, once a crisis arises, to face it calmly and rationally while seeking a resolution with wisdom.
Chen offered as an example that fact that he called an emergency meeting with the heads of the five branches of government Monday evening, in the hope of seeking consensus on ways and means to address the dispute over the nuclear power plant.
For his part, Solarz said motioning to recall the president is by no means a good demonstration of democracy and stressed that in democratic countries, if the people are unhappy with the head of state, they can choose a "better" one in the next election, but never by recalling the incumbent president.