A campaign to unseat Taiwan "president" Chen Shui-bian for alleged corruption has gained momentum after more than 600,000 people threw their support behind it in just four days.

"Support from the public is far beyond our expectations. The passion among the people is gathering at an amazing pace," said Ho De-fen, spokesman for the campaign.

The campaign, which was launched last weekend by Shih Ming-teh, one of Chen's former allies, has also collected almost NT$ 66 million (US$2.1 million) in donations to keep it moving forward, Ho said.

Shih, a former chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), sought support from 1 million people with each donating NT$100 (US$3.13) to show their commitment.

He plans to stage an indefinite round-the-clock sit-in outside the "presidential" office beginning September 9 after obtaining the targeted endorsement of one million people and NT$100 million (US$3.18 million).

"Donated funds have amounted to NT$ 65.7 million in just four days and the number of supporters exceeded 650,000. We might start the protest earlier," said Ho.

Money poured in as prosecutors stepped up a probe into whether Chen had misused funds intended for "national" affairs. Chen's family also faces corruption allegations.

His wife Wu Shu-chen is being investigated for allegedly accepting large amounts of department store gift certificates and their son-in-law Chao Chien-ming has been indicted for engaging in insider trading.

"Let the people lead this 'anti-greed, anti-graft, A-Bian (Chen's nickname) out' campaign. Chen is no longer up to the job and he should be ousted," Shih told Eastern TV yesterday.

"This is a demonstration of people power. Regardless of political affiliations, the people are united now with one goal to throw A-Bian out of office," Shih said.

"We will not disperse until (Chen) steps down," he added.

The new campaign against Chen is notable because it includes so many of his former supporters.

They include photographer Hsieh Chun-teh who went on television on Wednesday to underscore the irony he says is inherent in a campaign poster he designed for Chen before the former maritime lawyer was swept into power in 2000 on a promise to crack down on graft.

"Pick a party that can watch over your purse," the poster read.

Still, all senior DPP leaders have stuck by Chen, insisting he should stay in office because the alleged scandals have not touched him personally.

Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said that patience was necessary in judging Chen.

In a related development, a recent survey of more than 1,000 people in Taiwan has showed that more than half favour developing exchanges with the Chinese mainland.

In the survey, conducted on August 10 and 11 at the request of Taiwan Thinktank, people were asked by telephone whether it was more important to "develop exchanges with the mainland" or to develop relations with other countries.

Of the 1,072 respondents, 50.7 per cent put "developing exchanges with the mainland" first, 38.7 per cent chose "developing relations with other countries" and the rest chose not to respond, according to survey results released by Taiwan Thinktank.

"It shows Taiwan people have high hopes for cross-Straits relations," said Yung-ming Hsu, assistant research fellow of Taiwan's "Academia Sinica."

(China Daily 08/18/2006 page2)