In a long television address, Chen Shui-bian defended the way in which he had managed the presidency and responded to accusations by the Opposition. "If corruption is proved, I will step down."
Taipei (AsiaNews/SCMP) The Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian yesterday responded to accusations leveled against him by the Opposition in recent weeks, which claim that his wife accepted "costly gifts" in exchange for political favours. Chen however did say he was "ready to resign" if presented with incontrovertible proof.
During a highly anticipated and publicized public address on television, the president yesterday defended himself from other accusations, "of a political nature", which blamed him for threatening ties with the United States and for willfully increasing tension with China.
Some claim that the presidential decision to scrap the National Unification Council a presidential body charged with responsibility for possible talks with Beijing aimed at achieving reunification of the island with the People's Republic of China irritated the US to the extent that it rejected Chen's request to visit New York.
The president said: "We talked with Washington more than 50 times before taking the decision. Even the US top envoy to Taiwan was pleased with how the situation was managed."
He continued: "In May, the deputy US Trade Representative, Karan Bhatia, was the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in six years. The scrapping of the National Unification Council did not damage anything.
"In the course of my mandate, relations with China have never been as tense as under my predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, when Beijing, to intimidate us, had test-fired missiles aimed at our island."
The most impassioned part of the president's address was that dealing with the scandal overwhelming him, which started with the involvement of his son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, in an insider trading [using reserved information to condition the stock market] operation. However the scandal deepened when his wife, Wu Shu-chen, was charged with having been involved in several dubious operations in large, prestigious banks and in the appointment of company directors.
Tackling the accusations, Chen said: "Neither I nor my wife have been involved in the ownership fight for the Pacific Sogo Department Store, and as I have already said, if it is proven that Wu Shu-chen was implicated ... I am willing to step down. I stand by this promise."