KMT wants a joint ticket with the PFP in 2004: Lien

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday said his party is setting its sights on fielding a joint KMT-PFP ticket in the 2004 presidential election, in which a KMT presidential candidate would team up with a PFP running mate.

Lien stressed that the goal is the KMT's own, saying that he could not speak on the PFP's behalf.

"From the perspective of the KMT, we will work to achieve the goal of KMT-PFP cooperation and fielding a joint KMT-PFP ticket [in the presidential race]," Lien said.

Lien made the remarks during an interview on a TV show hosted by independent legislator Sisy Chen (陳文茜).

Lien, however, would not specify whether he would be the KMT's next presidential candidate, saying the candidate should be decided according to the party's selection process.

Lien said the KMT is a democratic party, and any party decisions should be reached through a certain procedure and a process of consensus-building.

Whether Lien would make a second presidential bid and run on the same ticket as PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has been the topic of media speculation.

Lien has not yet clearly stated what his intentions are for 2004. But yesterday he said that he feels it's his responsibility to nurture talent within the party, saying he had already represented the KMT in an election and lost.

Lien also said in the interview that people are deeply disappointed with the DPP administration, though he conceded that they are not satisfied with the KMT's performance as an opposition party either.

Lien said the KMT has conducted a comprehensive self-examination over the past two years and has come to realize it must draw on the strengths of the other opposition parties in order to defeat the DPP.

He said the KMT feels a sense of responsibility for the country, and that the DPP has led Taiwan "astray," bringing national development to a standstill.

On the question of whether the KMT would throw its support behind independent candidate Chang Po-ya (張博雅) in the year-end Kaohsiung mayoral election, Lien said Chang must make her stand clear and that she should at least identify with the ideology of the pan-blue camp before she could win the support of pan-blue electorate.

Chang is widely considered to have a closer affiliation with the pan-green camp than with the pan-blue camp. But the PFP has proposed that Chang be taken into consideration when the KMT and PFP select their joint candidate for the election.