Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Saturday his plan of forming a cross-party political alliance after the Dec. 1 legislative elections is aimed at stabilizing the government rather than at gaining partisan benefits.
In a breakfast with local journalists, the president continued to pitch his idea of a "National Stabilization Alliance" which he floated Wednesday and which was given a cold reception by opposition parties. Chen said the idea is designed to improve the well-being of all the people of Taiwan and to achieve a breakthrough in the political impasse rather than to fracture other parties or to piggyback an illegal organization onto the government.
The president said that he is willing to share his power with other parties but that the opposition should not challenge his constitutional right to name the premier.
It is clear now that no party will emerge with a simple majority in the next Legislature, according to Chen, and the current political dilemma caused by the ruling party's inability to control the Legislative Yuan is likely to continue after the Dec. 1 elections.
As chief of state, Chen said, it is his duty to solve the dilemma, adding that people's impatience over the political instability has to be addressed after the elections.
Citing the Economic Development Advisory Conference as an example, Chen said that if mechanisms not provided for by the Republic of China Constitution can still converge public opinion on national policies, there is no reason why a political alliance patterned on the economic conference cannot work.
If such a political alliance, to be made up of people with common political views despite their different party affiliations, can promote the overall interests of the nation and people, it should not be branded as a political scheme concocted to split up other parties.
It would be an insult to the Democratic Progressive Party's other party partners in such an alliance to call them "traitors disloyal to their political beliefs," Chen said.
More than 500 days after the 2000 presidential election, the opposition parties should come to terms with their defeat and bury their grudges against the president for his victory over them, Chen said.
Their attempts to dictate the agenda to the administration through their grip on the Legislature in the last year and a half have turned into a farce, the president said.
Admitting that his administration might bear some of the blame for the political unrest for not being careful enough in handling relations with the Legislature, Chen said his administration is more than willing to change its ways. He then asked "why the opposition parties are not willing to budge when the president is."
Some opposition parties have not given a positive response to his offer in the lead-up to the elections out of fear of the potential political fallout, Chen said, adding that he is confident they will follow the dictates of public opinion and participate in an alliance after the elections.
The president said the proposed political alliance will consist of more than 120 members, but added that "the more, the better."
Under the president's blueprint, the members of the alliance, regardless of what party they belong to, should commit themselves to supporting his four basic policies, Chen said, adding that they will be consulted by the president regarding national policies and the formation of the Cabinet.