During the second post-election meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Central Standing Committee on Wednesday, KMT lawmaker Hung Yu-chin (
Hung's proposal was significant primarily because it officially opened discussions within the KMT about the future path and direction of the party. According to the localization faction, the KMT-People First Party (PFP) Alliance suffered a defeat in this past presidential election because it had drifted away from mainstream popular will -- which is becoming increasingly Taiwan-centric, along with the rapid evolution of a sense of Taiwanese national identity.
Actually, a better way to put it is that the pan-blue camp has failed to keep up with the changing popular will, as they continue to cling on to not only outdated ideologies, such as "there is one China, that being the Republic of China (ROC)," but a general sense of the "Greater China" consciousness.
Indeed, the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) gave the KMT an excuse to run away from reality and to turn their back against the need to re-examine its path. As many have pointed out, the pan-blues should stop thinking about the number of votes they might have lost because of the shooting, and think about the number of votes they lost since the previous presidential election. The number of votes garnered by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in this past election decreased by more than 1 million in comparison with the number of votes they garnered in 2000.
It is plain that the shooting could not have impacted that many votes, if it impacted any at all. But because the pan-blue alliance continues to be obsessed and preoccupied with the idea that "two bullets" overturned the entire election, they have refused to concede that something is wrong with their path and direction. If adjustments are not made, more voters will support the pan-greens and the KMT will no longer be able to play the role of a strong opposition, which can only be bad for both the party and the democratic development of Taiwan.
Currently, the KMT is at a crossroads. It can either shift toward the middle and adopt a more moderate path or embark on a more radical pro-China and pro-unification direction, led by the PFP and the New Party. The KMT's decision will more than likely result in a split within the party, which would not be the first of its kind that has resulted from similar internal struggles.
The two prior struggles, which took place when Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was the party's chairman, resulted in the departure of the pro-China factions, which first gave birth to New Party and then to the PFP.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that what Lien has in mind is obviously not just the future of the party but how to preserve his reign over it as well. If he listens to the localization faction, then there is the immediate pressure of a power succession within the party by the leader of the localization faction, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
If Lien goes the other route, lawmakers from the localization faction may leave and join with the pan-greens, giving them a legislative majority.
What will be Lien's decision?
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