On Friday, one of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) vice chairmen -- Vincent Siew (
That pressure is placed on KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Moreover, many people are interpreting the move by Siew -- who is the highest ranking of the party's six vice chairmen -- as a goodwill gesture to open the way for succession by Wang Jin-pyng (
No less noteworthy is the fact that Siew's move came after he was appointed to head a policy and strategy committee of the KMT. The committee, which is organized to formulate campaign themes for the upcoming legislative election and pave the way for the future direction of the party through dialogue within the party, had its first meeting on Friday.
Interestingly, during the meeting, the committee came up with a consensus to push for "two-party politics" in Taiwan and to search for a way to "nativize" discourse as the basis of the party's values. These are of course both sensitive and thorny topics for the KMT. First, the "two parties" of course mean the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the KMT. So, where does this leave the People's First Party (PFP)?
KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (
Under the circumstances, Siew's declaration of his intention to resign can also be interpreted as intending to show his determination to push his party to support "two-party politics" and toward the moderate and nativized path, and to prove that he has no ulterior motive. Even more important, this move may be intended to persuade Lien to accept his suggestions on the party's future direction. After all, Hsu has pointed out that Siew in the past made many suggestions regarding the policies of his party. However, according to Hsu, the KMT leadership has been unwilling to accept them, completely ignoring Siew.
The truth of the matter is Siew's position in the KMT has always been somewhat awkward after the presidential election. In comparison with his colleagues, he seems much more able to transcend the polarization of the pan-green and pan-blue camps. In May last year, he agreed to serve as the convener of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Hopefully, the departure of Siew will serve as a wake-up call to Lien.
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