Chen apologises to nation for scandals

The 55-year-old Chen survived the recall motion after the opposition failed to win support of 148 lawmakers, or two-thirds of the 221-seat parliament.

If it had passed, the recall motion -- the first in Taiwan's history -- would have triggered a national referendum on whether to oust Chen before his second term ends in May 2008.

"In recent months, political unrest has worsened and the atmosphere of confrontation has heightened to seriously damage Taiwan's internal solidarity," Chen said in a statement released by his office.

President Chen "humbly accepts criticism... and looks forward to pushing for political dialogue at home and cross-strait peace talks (with rival China) to unite Taiwan and promote social harmony," it said without elaboration.

The president "again apologized to the people for the issues involving him and his family" and urged the opposition to help restore calm on the island.

The recall motion was launched by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) who demanded Chen step down over a series of corruption scandals involving his son-in-law, his wife and some of his top aides.

But only 119 legislators cast ballots in favor while all 88 lawmakers from Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) boycotted the vote. Twelve members of the DPP-allied Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and two independents cast invalid ballots.

KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou called the result "a victory for corruption" and blasted DPP legislators for "standing side by side with corruption."

"The DPP used to be known among the public as a clean party, but now they have lost their ideals," Ma told a press conference.

Earlier Tuesday, Ma called for calm while addressing thousands of anti-Chen demonstrators outside the parliament building.

Thousands of Chen supporters also demonstrated waving banners and shouting slogans but some 5,000 police were mobilized to ensure peace, using barbed wire barricades to separate the two groups.

"We are expressing our anger and discontent over the corrupted and incompetent government of Chen Shui-bian in a rational and responsible way," Ma said.

"Whether or not the recall motion was passed, it wrote a new page in Taiwan's democratization."

Some opposition supporters broke into tears after the motion was rejected and others burned effigies of Chen.