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.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS