President Chen Shui-bian personally attended the first day plenary session of the EDAC conference yesterday. He will also be at the meetings both today and tomorrow.

120 EDAC members exchanged views and endorsed almost all of the 130 proposals presented by the “Industrial Development Panel.”

But there were also reports that major political parties plan to bring up some non-economic issues for discussion and adoption.

Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Yao Eng-chi, who is concurrently vice president of the Legislative Yuan, is poised to make a proposal for the largest political party after December elections to organize the new Cabinet. He is also reportedly planning to have EDAC members reaffirm the “twin-leader system” for the separation of powers between the president and premier as stipulated in the nation’s Constitution.

The New Party, the smallest party in the opposition alliance, is reportedly attempting to have EDAC members endorse the “1992 consensus” reached between negotiators from Taipei and Beijing. The party thinks such a move will prod the government to reopen dialogue across the Taiwan Strait.

Resumption of the dialogue with Beijing will help ensure more successful implementation of the many EDAC proposals concerning cross-strait affairs and economic interchanges.

Please see EDAC on page

Cabinet reshuffle

Lee Chia-chin, another KMT lawmaker, suggested that President Chen immediately reshuffle the Cabinet after the conclusion of the EDAC conference on Sunday. Lee said the president should start considering the issue right now since people of the nation widely expect concrete actions and results from the conference.

He pointed out that the current Cabinet is simply incapable of getting things done and it will be a waste if the EDAC members present brilliant ideas but officials in the executive branch fail to put them to work.

Lee said President Chen should at least seriously consider changing officials in charge of the portfolios of finance and economic affairs as well as the head of the Council for Economic Planning and Development.

The new government has already held half a dozen large-scale economic and industrial development conferences in the past year, but the sessions have yielded no visible results.

Legislator Yao confirmed the picture painted by local media about his opinions. But he stressed that those are only his personal ideas, and not handed down from the party.

KMT spokesman Chou Shou-shun explained that Yao’s ideas conform with the position of the KMT. He said KMT Chairman Lien Chan has already publicly expressed the possibility of returning to the constitutional “twin-leader system” and organizing a new government by the majority alliance in the Legislative Yuan.

Stability

Chou explained that while Yao suggested that the largest party in the parliament reorganize the Cabinet, the KMT’s position is to let the alliance with the most legislative seats to do the job so as to maintain stability and effectively implement the resolutions reached by the EDAC.

He said this will keep the government from using political instability as an excuse for hindering economic progress.

Chang Hsien-yao, director of the People First Party’s (PFP) policy research center, said although Yao’s proposal is in harmony with PFP policy, he personally has reservations as to whether it is suitable to bring up the proposal at the EDAC conference.

Chang felt it would be more appropriate to discuss such “highly constitutional issues” at the “inter-party consultation conference” after the end of the EDAC confab.