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.
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 (
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 (
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.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS