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KMT restructuring to result in smaller presence overseas

The KMT is moving to trim its overseas branches as part of its restructuring and rejuvenation plan, party sources said yesterday.

The party has tentatively decided to integrate and merge its overseas offices into 11 chapters around the world, the sources said, adding that many KMT overseas staffers have been directed to return to Taipei for reassignment.

According to the KMT's streamlining plan, the party's offices and staff in the US will be largely trimmed.

The restructuring plan has caused concern in overseas Chinese communities. Speculation has it that the KMT will close all of its overseas operations and sell out its overseas assets.

With a view to stemming the rumors, the KMT's organization affairs department issued a statement on Wednesday stressing that the party only plans to cut the number of its overseas branches and staff members instead of shutting down all offices.

As to how the party will handle its overseas assets, the department said the KMT might not immediately sell them and may continue managing those properties.

Meanwhile, reports from Tokyo said the KMT's Japan chapter would close operations on Aug. 18, marking the party's first withdrawal from an overseas location since its establishment in Hawaii in 1894.

The reports said the KMT has lost many of its rank-and-file members since its defeat in the 2000 presidential election. The number of KMT members in the Tokyo area has declined to slightly more than 200 and the number throughout Japan is less than 600.
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