DATE=6/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN / VICE PRESIDENT
NUMBER=2-263474
BYLINE=GRACE CUTLER
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  A group of opposition lawmakers in Taiwan say 
the country's new vice president is a security risk 
and they are calling for her dismissal.  As Grace 
Cutler reports from Hong Kong, Annette Lu has been 
criticized in both Taiwan and China for stirring up 
nationalist sentiment in Taiwan.

TEXT:  Annette Lu has been in office for less than one 
month but already opposition lawmakers are calling for 
her dismissal.  She is often in the spotlight for her 
of staunch support for Taiwan's independence from 
China.  This has angered Beijing, which considers 
Taiwan a breakaway province and wants the island to 
reunite with the mainland.

Ms. Lu's opponents say the outspoken vice president is 
putting Taiwan at risk and is undermining President 
Chen Shui-bian's attempts to mend fences with China.
 
Last week, Ms. Lu once again came under fire when she 
said the president chose her as vice president to play 
the "bad cop" (to be used as leverage) against China. 
The presidential office later issued a denial.

President Chen, in the past, has supported Taiwan's 
independence from China, but has since softened his 
position and appealed for reconciliation with Beijing.

On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, Chinese state 
controlled media have called Ms. Lu the "scum of the 
Chinese nation" and an "incurable separatist."

Ms. Lu now faces a motion by Nationalist party 
legislators to force her from office. 
Although the motion has enough signatures to be 
introduced as legislation, it is unlikely to get the 
two-thirds vote needed to pass. And if it did pass, 
the vice president's recall from office would have to 
be approved by a majority vote in a public ballot.
 
Members of Ms. Lu's Democratic Progressive Party say 
the motion was raised to serve more as a warning to 
Ms. Lu to tone down her independent rhetoric. Others 
in the party suggest the move was an act of revenge by 
the Nationalist party, which lost its 51-year grip on 
power in March elections. (signed)

NEB/HK/GC/JO/KBK





14-Jun-2000 09:01 AM LOC (14-Jun-2000 1301 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.