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Ma holds policy
meeting without Wang Jin-pyng
‘NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS’: KMT caucus whip Lin
Hung-chih took Wang’s place at the meeting, and the Presidential Office said Ma
would not change his stance
By Stacy Hsu / Staff writer, with CNA
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng
talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday after a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
party-government meeting was held without his participation.
Photo: CNA
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday
held a party-government policy meeting with four top officials from the
legislative and administrative branches in place of the suspended weekly meeting
of “the committee of five,” with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin
Hung-chih (林鴻池) attending instead of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
“My duty [as whip] is to take charge of communications and negotiations between
the government and the ruling party, serving as a bridge between the legislative
and administrative branches and seeking to forge consensus within the party,”
Lin said when approached by reporters before attending the meeting.
Lin said the party-government policy meeting was a platform through which he
could further facilitate communication between the two branches and give
constructive advice on major policy matters.
“There is absolutely no such thing as me replacing Speaker Wang,” Lin said.
Lin attended the meeting as representative of the legislative branch, a role
originally served by Wang before Ma and the KMT, of which the president is
chairman, made “necessary adjustments” to meetings in which Wang had been
participating after his KMT membership was revoked on Sept. 11 for his alleged
improper lobbying on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker
Chien-ming (柯建銘) in a legal matter.
The adjustments include suspension of the weekly Monday meeting of the committee
of five — which comprises Ma, Wang, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Premier
Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and KMT Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) — and the
exclusion of Wang from tea gatherings including Ma and lawmakers held before the
opening of the new legislative session last week.
Presidential Office officials have said that Ma would not change his
zero-tolerance stance on Wang’s alleged improper lobbying, and would continue to
make necessary changes to activities outside the constitutional structure that
Wang had been taking part in.
Ma’s moves to exclude Wang from decisionmaking meetings have been seen by many
as blatantly defying a Sept. 13 Taipei District Court ruling in favor of Wang’s
provisional injunction seeking to retain his party membership and rights until
the case is settled in court.
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