Taiwan's Chen apologises over scandal

TAIPEI, May 20 (Reuters) Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, whose approval rating has sunk to new lows, today apologised over an insider trading scandal implicating his son-in-law.

A string of scandals involving Chen's family and a former staff member have hurt the image of the president, whose victory in the 2000 election ended five decades of one-party rule.

''First of all, I must humbly and very responsibly extend my deepest apology to all my compatriots, democrats of the older generation and party comrades,'' Chen told reporters.

''Regarding criticism from all circles, Ah Bian and members of my family must learn from and deeply examine our mistakes with an open mind,'' Chen said, referring to his nickname.

The apology came a day after Vice President Annette Lu urged the nation to be lenient towards Chen's son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, saying he was too young and naive to be able to tell good from bad.

Chao, a doctor married to Chen's daughter, quit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Thursday. He apologised but denied any wrongdoing and offered to donate to charity part of the tens of millions of Taiwan dollars his mother made from trading shares in real estate developer Taiwan Development Corp.

An opposition deputy has accused Chao's mother of buying the shares from the partly state-owned Chang Hwa Bank at relatively low prices last year when Taiwan Development was in financial trouble.

Its share prices have skyrocketed after a banking consortium bailed it out.

Chen marked his sixth year in office cleaning up a beach.

Wearing white gloves and accompanied by bodyguards, Chen picked up empty plastic bottles and other trash along the shores of White Sand Bay outside Taipei, television footage showed.

After the beach clean-up, Chen pledged support for an investigation by prosecutors into the insider trading scandal.

''Everybody is equal before the law. There are no exceptions. No one has privileges,'' he said, adding that members and relatives of the First Family must undergo investigation.

In an attempt to contain the political fallout from the scandal, DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun bowed and apologised on Saturday after putting on a street cleaner's yellow-and-orange vest and doing volunteer work.

Chen has two years to serve in his second and final four-year term and the DPP faces a test in mayoral elections in the island's two biggest cities in December.

''Chen Shui-bian is struggling to avoid becoming a lame duck president,'' said Philip Yang, a political scientist at the National Taiwan University.

REUTERS SY VV1211