Taiwan premier resigns over typhoon disaster (Roundup)

Sep 7, 2009, 12:16 GMT

   Taipei - Taiwan Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said Monday he submitted his resignation to the president, to take the blame for a disaster triggered by Typhoon Morakot last month that left 758 dead and thousands homeless.

   Liu said his resignation was approved by President Ma Ying-jeou Saturday ahead of a cabinet shuffle Thursday.

   'I will lead all members of the cabinet to resign en masse this Thursday' to pave the way for the formation of the new cabinet, Liu said in a hastily news conference.

   Market analysts said Liu's resignation would have limited political and economic impact to the island, given that Liu was appointed by the president and did not have real power.

   Liu will be replaced by Wu Den-yih, secretary-general of the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT), according to presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi.

   Wu, 61, who had been legislator and mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung, is considered a close ally of Ma and is expected to fully cooperate with Ma after he forms the new Cabinet.

   'I will exchange views with the president over the choices of cabinet members and we hope to form the cabinet within this week,' Wu said in a separate news conference.

   Chu Li-lun, 48, a younger generation political star and a county magistrate of the northern county of Taoyuan, will become the vice premier, according to the presidential spokesman.

   Wang said the president deeply appreciated what Liu had done during his time as the cabinet head since May last year, including efforts to improve the island's sagging economy and promote Taiwan's relations with China.

   'Because of the Morakot typhoon disaster, Premier Liu felt the obligation to shoulder the political responsibility and resign,' Wang said in another news conference.

   Liu said he originally offered to resign in mid-August after the deadly disaster, but the president asked him to stay on to deal with the most-needed reconstruction and relief work in the typhoon aftermath.

   With more than 80 per cent of the relief funds released and 92 per cent of the resettlement work done, Liu said it was time for him to go.

   'I have completed my mission at this stage and it is time to leave,' said Liu in a hastily called news conference.

   Liu had faced mounting pressure to step down after Typhoon Morakot wreaked havoc to eastern and southern Taiwan, causing flashfloods two storeys high and landslides that leveled at least six mountain villages.

   The cabinet he led was faulted for doing a poor job in tackling the disaster, resulting in the high casualties. Ma apologized repeatedly over the slow response and disorder showed by the cabinet in dealing with the disaster.

  The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which repeatedly demanded Liu to step down and the cabinet reshuffled, was lukewarm over the latest change.

   DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan suspected that the appointments of both Wu and Chu - who have experience in local government - was an election strategy of Ma to increase the ruling party's chances in the year-end local elections.

The 66-year-old Liu, a former vice premier and a university president, was appointed to head the cabinet in May last year after Ma defeated the Democratic Progressive Party in the 2008 presidential election, allowing the KMT to return to power.