The KMT's acting chairman, Vice President Lien Chan (
Speaking to party members in Taoyuan County yesterday, Lien said the KMT would soon start a review of its organization, personnel and operations.
Lien took over as acting chairman after President Lee Teng-hui (
The vice president was upbeat in yesterday's speech, despite having finished a distant third in the election. He extolled the KMT's contributions to Taiwan's development, saying that the party had brought an economic miracle, not to mention democracy, to the country during its 54 years in power.
The party now urgently needs to reform to keep up with the changing times, Lien said, while confirming that a significant number of members would be disciplined in the wake of the election defeat.
The party's provincial office is set to submit to party headquarters tomorrow a list of members islandwide who violated party rules during the election.
The first wave of the planned purge will focus on county and city councilors and more senior party members.
Senior figures on the list reportedly include Taichung County council speaker Yen Ching-piao (
The second wave of expulsions is expected to seep quickly down to the township and grassroots levels.
According to a statement from the party's provincial office, the purge will be necessary "even if it leaves the party with only 500,000 members in the end."
The turmoil which has engulfed the party since its election defeat continues, meanwhile, to generate intense speculation in the media over who will step up to challenge for top leadership positions in the wake of Lee's departure.
Former Kaohsiung mayor Wu Dun-yi (
He was apparently referring to growing demands for direct election of the party chairman by the membership.
Wu was seen as one of the KMT's brightest young stars until losing the Kaohsiung mayorship to the DPP's Frank Hsieh in December, 1998.
He did not stump for any candidate during the election, despite earlier rumors that he was siding with independent candidate James Soong (
When asked if he would stay in the KMT and participate in party reforms, Wu said, "I won't touch this issue for now."
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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