The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should abrogate the party’s annual forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and donate all party assets except for those that it legally acquired, former KMT secretary-general Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) said in a party reform proposal.
Lee compiled the report after 21 forums with the KMT’s local cadres and campaign staff across the nation from Feb. 19 to March 23, following the party’s landslide defeats in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections.
Nominated as secretary-general in January last year by then-KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), Lee submitted the report to newly sworn-in KMT Chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) before his term ended late last month.
The report listed 14 reasons presented at the forums for the KMT’s electoral failure, including the party’s controversial assets, which it said have been a constant target of and a “cash machine” for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
“The KMT’s withdrawal from media ownership has seen a majority of local news outlets and political commentators targeting and throwing negative comments at the party. Such attacks have not only severely tarnished the KMT’s image, but also caused the public to have a negative perception of the party,” the report said.
The report singled out pan-green organizations’ efforts to affect the political views of students and the influence of educational reforms on young people’s perception of national identity as potential reasons for the losses in January.
Among the 12 reform proposals in the report was the need to expound on the KMT’s central ideas in a bid to unify supporters and party members and to attract young people to the party.
The report urged the party leadership to cancel the annual KMT-CCP forum, calling it “political pageantry.”
“Instead, the party should engage in communication [with Beijing] regarding concrete cross-strait issues and establish a service center in mainland China to offer assistance to Taiwanese businessmen being mistreated there,” the report said.
The Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum was initiated in 2005 by then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰).
The report said that while the KMT should donate all of its illegitimate properties, it should hold on to its legal assets, because they include membership fees paid by KMT members.
The party should not dance to the beat of the DPP’s and the media’s drums, it said.
“The KMT should let a juridical organization determine the legitimacy of each of its assets... Should anyone try to slander or criticize the party over its assets, it must take legal action and demand compensation,” the report said.
It also urged the KMT leadership to use some of the assets to take care of elderly and socially disadvantaged party members, in addition to donating the party’s election subsidies to charity organizations to win public support.
Turning to the 228 Incident, the report said the massacre is a historical tragedy for which the KMT of today should not be held accountable.
“The party should explain the truth behind the incident to prevent the DPP from cashing in on the event each year,” it added.
The 228 Incident refers to an anti-government uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, and a series of bloody purges against civilians in subsequent months by the then-KMT regime.
The event marked the beginning of the White Terror era, which saw tens of thousands of people arrested, imprisoned and executed.
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