Vowing to continue reform efforts so the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will win the 2008 presidential election, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took over the helm of the party yesterday, while his supporters pushed through proposals to reform the KMT's power structure.
Accepting the party's flag from predecessor Lien Chan (
"Today's society depends on the KMT to monitor the government as a strong opposition party and to maintain peaceful cross-strait relations," Ma said in his inauguration speech to the 1,600 delegates gathered at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.
PHOTO: FANG PING-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"It is the KMT's mission and my challenge to transform the party into a clean and decent party," he said.
Ma outlined seven reform goals in his speech, including cleaning up the party's asset problems by 2008, pushing for pan-blue unity, expanding the party's base and grassroots connections, and deepening democracy within the party.
Ma praised Lien for the contributions he made to the party as chairman, including allowing a direct election for his successor, and for working to improve cross-strait relations.
He also thanked Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) for running "a gentlemen's race" in the KMT chairmanship election last month.
In his farewell address, Lien thanked party members for their support during his five-year tenure, during which he said he was devoted to reviving the party's soul and spirit. He encouraged his fellow cadres to rejuvenate and reform the party.
"Our popularity among the public had risen to more than 60 percent in a recent survey. I urge all of you to keep the torch passed down by Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), offer voters a different choice, and hopefully win back power in 2008," Lien said.
Many of the delegates, including Lien's son Lien Sheng-wen (
The KMT's "Chairman Ma era" got underway yesterday afternoon when the delegates passed a proposal to allow them to directly elect the party's 31 Central Standing Committee (CSC) members. The motion was carried by more than 856 delegates. The CSC vote will be held today.
The delegates also gave their approval to Ma's nominees for four vice-chairperson posts: incumbents Taichung Mayor Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) and Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), as well as Lin Cheng-chi (林澄枝) and John Kuan (關中). A total of 952 delegates raised their hands to support the appointments.
A proposal to amend the KMT's constitution to extend the terms of CSC members from one year to two was rejected. Other constitutional amendments that passed included abolishing an article which stipulates that members who are disciplined or expelled cannot be candidates for the Central Standing Committee or party chairman.
The article is generally considered to be aimed at People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who was expelled by the KMT for running as an independent against Lien in the 2000 presidential election. The amendment was designed to help push for integration of the pan-blue alliance.
As most of the motions put forward by Ma's supporters were passed -- the direct election of CSC members and keeping CSC tenure at one year -- it is believed that the Taipei mayor has enhanced his power within the party.
Today the delegates will elect the 210 members of the party's Central Committee and then elect the 31 CSC members from among those 210 people.
Meanwhile, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a congratulatory message Ma yesterday, according to a Beijing-based Xinhuanet report.
The message expressed hope that both sides will also oppose Taiwan independence to safeguard peace in the Strait and create a win-win situation for both sides across the Strait.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the CCP's secretary-general, also sent a message to Lien to congratulate him for serving as the KMT's honorary chairman, the report said.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better