US embassy cable - 04TAIPEI4103

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 004103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, TW 
SUBJECT: POLITICS TAR CONTROL YUAN NOMINATIONS 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reason: 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  The Presidential Office submitted on 
December 20 its list of 29 Control Yuan nominees for 
Legislative Yuan approval.  Pan-Blue legislators, as well as 
some ruling DPP legislators, immediately dismissed the 
nominees as unqualified and vowed to resist the Presidential 
Office's attempts to secure the nominees' confirmation. 
Pan-Green officials insist the Pan-Blue's opposition to the 
nomination list is politically motivated.  The reflexive 
opposition of the Pan-Blue to the Control Yuan nominations 
and the unwillingness of President Chen to compromise are 
further evidence that the post-December 11 election promises 
of inter-party cooperation are becoming history and gridlock 
has returned to Taiwan's legislative process.  End Summary. 
 
A Beautiful List? 
----------------- 
 
2. (C) On December 20, the Presidential Office submitted to 
the Legislative Yuan (LY) for approval a list of 29 nominees 
for the Control Yuan, an oversight body that has the power to 
audit, censure, and impeach government officials at all 
levels.  Presidential Office Secretary General Su Tseng-chang 
insisted the list was "a very beautiful list," explaining 
that President Chen had carefully selected the 29 nominees 
from a list of 53 candidates recommended by a task force 
chaired by Vice President Annette Lu.  Other members of the 
task force included Secretary General Su and Taiwan High 
Speed Rail Chair Nita Ing.  The current Control Yuan members 
will conclude their six-year tenure on January 31.  All 29 
nominees of the new body must be confirmed by the LY before 
they can assume office at the beginning of February 2005. 
(Note:  Although the ROC Constitution stipulates 29 Control 
Yuan members, there are currently only 24.  Originally 
appointed to the Control Yuan in 1999, Kang Ning-hsiang and 
Chang Fu-mei gave up their seats in 2001 in order to serve as 
NSC Secretary General and Overseas Chinese Affairs 
Commissioner, respectively.  In 1999 the National Assembly 
rejected one of former President Lee Teng-hui's nominees, 
Chang Jin-chen.  Two other Control Yuan members have since 
died.  The President has the power to appoint new nominees in 
the interim years to fill the vacancies, however the LY 
failed to confirm candidates nominated in June 2001 and May 
2002.  End Note) 
 
Some Think Not 
-------------- 
 
3. (C) Many legislators from all parties quickly lined up to 
criticize the list, however, questioning the qualifications 
of the nominees, accusing Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu of 
using the nomination process as political patronage, and, on 
the Pan-Blue side, complaining that they had not been 
consulted on the nominations.  Critics pointed out that three 
of the nominees -- Tsai Ming-hua, Hung Gui-sen, and Yu Mei-nu 
-- are legal advisers to Vice President Lu.  Some also 
charged that many of the nominees have close links to 
business groups undertaking public construction projects, and 
criticized President Chen for not renominating incumbent 
Control Yuan members who are currently investigating 
allegations relating to Chen's family, the Lafayette frigate 
scandal, and the Taiwan High Speed Rail project. 
 
4. (C) Perhaps the most controversial nominee is the nominee 
for Control Yuan President -- Clement Chang (Chien-pang), a 
KMT member who is currently a Senior Advisor in the Office of 
the President.  Chang was forced to resign as Transportation 
and Communications Minister in 1991 after coming under attack 
by then-Legislator Chen Shui-bian for his alleged involvement 
in the Hualong Group stock speculation scandal.  KMT LY 
Caucus Whip Huang Teh-fu attacked the nominations of Chang 
and Michael Hsiao, the nominee for Control Yuan Vice 
President, for generally supporting whatever party was in 
power.  Hsiao is currently a National Policy Advisor and an 
Academia Sinica Fellow. 
 
5. (C) Attempts by the ruling party to counter opposition to 
the list of nominees have proved futile.  Local media 
reported that a December 21 cross-party meeting of 
legislative leaders lasted less than five minutes after KMT 
Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan left the meeting in protest when 
DPP negotiators refused to discuss the March 19 Truth 
Investigation Commission Law.  A second negotiation meeting 
on December 24 also ended without resolution.  The DPP 
leadership also failed to quell opposition within its own 
ranks.  Three DPP legislators have publicly criticized the 
list of nominees as unqualified.  DPP Legislators Shen 
Fu-hsiung, Tuan Yi-kang, and Chou Ching-yu, all of whom 
failed to win reelection, said at the December 21 party 
caucus meeting that they would resign ahead of the 
confirmation vote if their party decided to take disciplinary 
action against those members who did not conform to the party 
line. 
 
Politics at Play 
---------------- 
 
6. (C) Objections to the Control Yuan nomination list appear 
to have a heavily political basis.  Pan-Blue legislators have 
not clearly explained why they believe the nominees are 
unqualified.  Six (seven, if Chang Fu-mei is counted) of the 
29 nominees are incumbent Control Yuan members.  A comparison 
of the qualifications of the incumbent members and current 
nominees shows that both groups contain roughly similar 
numbers of academics, civic group leaders, legal experts, and 
former government officials from the Executive, Judicial, and 
Legislative branch.  Nevertheless, PFP Legislator Lee 
Ching-hua told AIT that the list was "unsatisfactory," and 
that there was no room for compromise because it was Chen 
Shui-bian's responsibility to nominate and the LY's 
responsibility to reject those candidates it found 
unqualified.  PFP Legislator and Spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau 
told AIT that President Chen has no sense of responsibility 
and had merely selected his own cronies.  Chen, he said, had 
nothing to lose by nominating his political allies, but by 
doing so Chen was inviting a fight with the Pan-Blue. 
 
7. (C) Hwang Yih-jiau's legislative aide later admitted to 
AIT that the Pan-Blue does not oppose everyone on the list, 
and that the Opposition is blocking the nominations largely 
because Chen Shui-bian did not consult the LY prior to 
releasing the list.  Lee Chuan-chao, a KMT Legislator and 
Central Standing Committee (CSC) member, told AIT that he 
personally would not have challenged the nominations and did 
not believe that the opposition parties had the right to 
demand that they be consulted in forming the list of 
nominees.  However, Lee explained, the KMT leadership had 
decided to either oppose the current list or demand that 
President Chen consult the Pan-Blue before submitting any 
other names. 
 
8. (C) Some objections to the nomination list are based on 
KMT suspicion of collusion between Chen Shui-bian and "Lee 
Teng-hui sympathizers" still in the KMT.  For example, newly 
elected LY member and son of KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, 
John Wu (Chih-yang), told AIT that Chen had worked out a deal 
with independent Legislator Lu Shin-ming for Lu not to stand 
for reelection in exchange for a Control Yuan seat. (Note: 
Lu was a KMT member, but the party revoked his membership for 
not voting along party lines.  Endnote).  Other Pan-Blue 
officials suggested that Chen made a similar arrangement with 
eight-term KMT Legislator Hung Chao-nan.  Wang Jin-pyng, who 
recently has gone out of his way demonstrating loyalty to 
Party Chairman Lien Chan, told AIT "any KMT member who 
cooperates with Chen Shui-bian is a traitor." 
 
Pan-Green Refutes Allegations 
----------------------------- 
 
9. (C) The Presidential Office has sought to counter 
opposition to the nominees.  On December 23 President Chen 
publicly defended his Control Yuan choices, argued that past 
attempts at cross-party negotiations on Control Yuan nominees 
have resulted in failure, and vowed not to revise his list of 
nominees.  On December 25, Presidential Secretary General Su 
Tseng-chang reaffirmed President Chen's commitment to the 
 
SIPDIS 
current list.  DPP Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan 
told AIT on December 28 that Pan-Blue opposition is entirely 
political.  He insisted that KMT is being disruptive in part 
because KMT Chairman Lien Chan personally dislikes Chang 
Chien-pang.  After a moment, Lee added, "actually, it is 
because Lien dislikes Chen Shui-bian."  Lee stated that 
legislative approval of the nomination list and reviewing the 
qualifications of nominees are two entirely different 
matters.  The LY, he explained, has the responsibility to 
review the list, confirm those nominees it deems qualified, 
and reject those nominees it deems unqualified; however, he 
argued, the LY is acting unconstitutionally if it refuses to 
act on the list at all and forces the President to resubmit 
an entire list. 
 
10. (C) Senior Presidential Advisor Wu Li-pei told AIT on 
December 28 that many of the Pan-Blue's allegations are 
simply untrue.  He argued that High Speed Rail Chair Nita 
Ing, who has been accused of a conflict of interest, was only 
one of five members on the selection task force and did not 
have final say on nominees.  In any case, he continued, 
Control Yuan incumbents Huang Huang-hsiung and Lee Shen-yi, 
who are investigating the Taiwan High Speed Rail, were 
renominated.  Referring to allegations that incumbents 
investigating Chen's family had been excluded from 
renomination, Wu pointed out that the Control Yuan, in fact, 
is not empowered to investigate family members of public 
officials.  Wu told AIT that by nominating Chang Chien-pang 
for Control Yuan President, Chen Shui-bian had been trying to 
reach out to the KMT and had been shocked when the KMT 
disavowed Chang as a member.  TSU-affiliated Taiwan Advocates 
Policy Director Chow Mei-li told AIT that the Pan-Blue is 
flexing its muscles after winning a narrow majority in the 
December 11 LY election.  She said the political climate 
would continue to be contentious for a while. 
 
11. (C) Commenting on the DPP Legislators who criticized the 
Control Yuan nominations, Lee Ying-yuan told AIT that these 
particular LY members simply opposed "out of habit."  Shen 
Fu-hsiung, he added, "is very intelligent but he has zero 
E.Q." (emotional quotient, i.e. interpersonal skills). 
Taiwan Advocate Policy Director Chow Mei-li said that until 
the new cabinet is appointed and the new LY session begins, 
many DPP and TSU members will grandstand in order to leverage 
their position and maximize their influence. 
 
Comment:  Return to Gridlock 
---------------------------- 
 
12. (C) The negative response of the Pan-Blue to the 
Presidential Office's Control Yuan nominees and President 
Chen's subsequent digging in his heels indicate the LY 
election night promises of cross-party cooperation are fast 
evaporating.  Pan-Green officials may be not be far off the 
mark when they insist Pan-Blue opposition is politically 
motivated.  Since winning the LY majority, Pan-Blue has been 
demanding the right to be consulted for all presidential 
appointments, including that of Premier.  Much of the 
Pan-Blue impulse is driven by rage over successive failures 
to void the presidential election and a hope to find leverage 
to renew its investigation.  Moreover, political appointments 
will always be controversial, but President Chen might have 
served his own purposes better had he paid heed to the 
tradition of consulting the LY on Control Yuan appointments 
and to his own promise of more cross-party gestures. 
PAAL