Taiwan's DPP forms new team under president

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 22, 2002

TAIPEI, July 18 Kyodo

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Thursday launched a new management team under President Chen Shui-bian's leadership aimed at reinvigorating the party and running Chen's 2004 reelection campaign.

The move comes as Chen prepares to assume the post of party chairman on Sunday, marking the first time since the DPP's foundation that its leader is also head of state.

''The party will be able to play a bigger role in the administration's policy-making process,'' Chang Chun-hsiung, the newly appointed DPP secretary general, told a news conference.

''(The team) will serve as a mechanism to bridge the gap more effectively between government officials and DPP lawmakers,'' Chang added.

Among the new team players, Chen Chung-hsin, known as a moderate on the party's China policy, will become head of the DPP's China Affairs Department.

''The DPP will hold a pragmatic attitude toward Beijing and open its door to China,'' Chen told reporters.

Beijing, which vows to eventually reintegrate Taiwan politically with the mainland, has shunned contacts with the DPP since Chen won the presidential election in May 2000.

Hsiao Bi-khim, a U.S.-educated lawmaker, will take charge of the International Affairs Department. She used to be director of the same department before and during the 2000 presidential election and Chen's personal English secretary in the presidential office.

Lo Wen-chia, also a lawmaker and a long-time assistant of Chen when he was Taipei mayor, will serve as director the Information Department.

Veteran lawmaker Lin Cho-hsui will lead the Policy Research and Coordinating Committee functioning as a link between the government and the legislature.