The KMT kicked off its 16th national congress with a rally in Taoyuan County yesterday, while the Chinese government in Beijing sent a message urging the KMT to stick to its "one China" and pro-unification platform.
The message, the content of which was reported by Beijing's official Xinhua News Agency -- congratulated the KMT and called on the party to maintain "firm belief and insistence on the `one China' principle."
"My party sincerely hopes your honoured party will abide by maintaining the one China principle, oppose Taiwan independence and pursue the position of reunification," the message said.
Accompanied by pounding drummers and flag-waving cheerleaders, about 2,000 members of the KMT attended the opening rally of the two-day event at the Taoyuan stadium. It was the party's first national congress since it lost its grip on power last year.
Party Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) wore a red headband with the party's symbol as he addressed the crowd.
"We want to use this gathering to unify and prepare to rebuild the people's confidence in this party and to win the year-end elections," said Lien, who placed a distant third in last year's presidential election.
Outside the stadium, a group of KMT members demanded the expulsion of former party chairman and ex-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
Lee was forced to resign as KMT chairman after the party lost the presidential elections to the DPP last year.
Lee is now helping to create a new political party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which threatens to drain support from the KMT.
However, the KMT was not expected to take up the issue during the congress, amid fears that Lee's expulsion might trigger a backlash from his supporters in the party.
In his speech, Lien also took a swipe at President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) government, noting that Taiwan's economy has taken a turn for the worse since Chen took office.
Lien also repeated his proposal of forming a confederation with China, which Beijing has already rejected. Lien urged the Chinese leaders to reconsider the idea.
The confederation proposal was not put on the agenda after objections from senior members. The plan calls for the formation of a confederation linking Taiwan and China before any potential unification.
In early July, the KMT unveiled a policy paper proposing a confederation as an intermediary step before a full-fledged unification based on the "the principles of democracy, freedom and equitable distribution of wealth."
The Chinese government has since rejected the confederation idea and instead insisted on its "one country, two systems" model, which has been adopted for Hong Kong and Macau.
Speaking on party reforms, Lien vowed to exclude "black gold" elements from the party's campaign in the year-end elections for the legislature.
"We want to reshape our image," Lien told the crowd.
The party plans to hold elections for its 210-member Central Committee and 31-seat Central Standing Committee today.
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