Opposition parties fail to oust Taiwanese president

Of the 131 legislators in attendance, 118, mainly from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and allied People First Party (PFP), voted for the motion. Twelve members of the pro-government Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) spoiled their ballots and one legislator voted against. The 83 MPs of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) boycotted the vote.

The recall motion came after Taiwanese High Court prosecutors charged Chen’s wife, Wu Shu-chen, on November 3 with embezzling 14.6 million New Taiwan dollars (around $US450,000) from a secret “state affairs” account using forged expense receipts. The prosecutors claimed to have enough evidence to indict Chen as well, if the president were not protected by the constitution from criminal charges.

Chen rejected the allegations, but refused to reveal how the money had been spent. In a televised speech two days later, he said the funds were for “secret diplomatic work” that must remain confidential in the national interest. It is widely believed the money may have been used to bribe governments in Africa, the South Pacific and Latin America to switch their diplomatic recognition from China to Taiwan.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/taiw-d06.shtml