POLITICS TAR CONTROL YUAN NOMINATIONS

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