Sun, Jul 29, 2001 page1

• KMT's congress begins today

  BATTLE STATIONS The party is trying to get in shape for the upcoming legislative elections and trying not to be worried by the advent of Lee Teng-hui's new grouping

  • By Crystal Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Fourteen months after being voted out of office, the KMT is set to convene its national congress today and tomorrow.

  The congress is widely hoped to rejuvenate the party and prepare it for its next big challenge, the year-end legislative elections.

  

  Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua, center, gathers with her supporters outside KMT headquarters yesterday, on the eve of the party's congress, to promote her bid for a Central Committee seat.

  PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  "It [the congress] is a rally whose main aim is to consolidate party unity," KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) told a group of overseas supporters on the eve of the forum.

  "The party has a rosy outlook about its future," Lien said.

  A total of 2,001 party officials and delegates from Taiwan and overseas will attend the two-day meeting. The congress will discuss proposals to amend internal rules as well as to elect members of the party's Central Committee and Central Standing Committee.

  "The gathering will also provide opportunity for members to brainstorm strategy for winning the year-end elections," Lien said.

  Lien, whose presidential election bid last year suffered a humiliating defeat, said: "Take heart and have confidence in the party. I'm optimistic."

  All five sitting vice chairpersons -- Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), Chiang Chung-ling (蔣仲苓) and Lin Chen-chih (林澄枝) -- are expected to be retained.

  Of the 210 Central Committee candidates, only 97 are incumbents, with the majority of seats set aside for representatives from different sectors of society.

  "For the first time, 22 China-based Taiwan businessmen are candidates in line with the party's resolve to diversify its leadership," KMT Secretary-general Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) told a news conference.

  Nearly 1,500 party delegates will vote on the slate of the Central Committee whose members for the first time are empowered to confirm the party's legislative candidates-at-large.

  Stressing the importance of reform and democracy, Lin said the congress will also discuss proposals to exclude sexual offenders from seeking public office in the future.

  "The proposed revision marks an additional concrete step by the party to help improve the quality of the country's politics," Lin said.

  The KMT has been blamed for its ties to organized crime and big-money interests. To shake off the image, the party earlier this year introduced an exclusionary clause to its nominating codes that bars figures with underworld connections from contesting elected office.

  The 210 Central Committee members will elect 31 deputies among themselves to the Central Standing Committee that used to be dominated by ranking Cabinet officials before the KMT lost the presidency to the DPP.

  "In the past, members holding key government posts were also responsible for drafting the party's policies," Lin noted. "The duty now resides with the central policy committee and the party's think tank -- both of which assign heavy weight to opinion polls."

  The transfer of power has increasingly tipped the balance in favor of the party's legislative caucus. Today, 12 fellow legislators sit on the party's highest decision-making organ, compared to less than five when the KMT was in control of government.

  To prevent the Taiwan Solidarity Union (台灣團結聯盟) from stealing the limelight, the party has advised against any campaign to expel former chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who has lent his support to the new political party.

  "A grassroots member, Lee should not be the focus of the forthcoming event," said Chao Shou-po (趙守博), head of the KMT organizational affairs department. "I hope all members will refrain from emotional moves that may threaten internal unity."

  Feng Chih-yi (方智怡), an overseas delegate, had earlier vowed to call for Lee's expulsion during the congress but later said she would leave the matter to the discretion of the Central Standing Committee.

  Apparently to appease the pro-Lee faction, the party has said it will continue with the "Taiwan first" policy introduced by the former KMT leader.

  "Without abandoning the `Taiwan first' policy, the party will make saving the economy and promoting ethnic harmony its main appeals in the run-up to the December polls," Lin said.

  Analysts said the KMT, if able to avert fratricidal infighting, would remain a key player in politics.
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