Pan-blue leaders shake hands amid doubts

To avoid a repeat of their defeat in the 2000 presidential election, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) earlier last week pledged that the two parties will join forces and field a joint ticket for the 2004 presidential election.

Despite claims by both Lien and Soong that KMT-PFP cooperation is desired by most pan-blue supporters, internal consensus within the two parties has yet to be established before KMT-PFP cooperation can become a reality.

KMT leaders such as Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) and director of the party's organizational-affairs department James Chen (陳健治) approve of the KMT-PFP partnership.

Senior KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) is also in favor of a Lien-Soong ticket.

"Given their [Lien's and Soong's] rich background and experience in administrative work, I believe the Lien-Soong ticket will beat a ticket featuring Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Annette Lu (呂秀蓮)," Huang told the Taipei Times.

While party leaders such as Lin and Chen approve of an alliance, others are not quite convinced.

KMT Legislator Chen Hung-chang (陳宏昌), who also serves as deputy chief of the e-Generation Alliance, expressed reserve about the two parties' ability to cooperate.

"I am not totally optimistic about cooperation between the KMT and the PFP," Chen Hung-chang told the Taipei Times, adding that several members within the e-Generation Alliance agreed. "Within days after both parties pledged to cooperate, the PFP had already begun to make provocative remarks."

Chen was referring to criticism made by PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) just days after KMT and PFP pledged to unite.

Chang said last Monday that unless the KMT sheds its "black gold" image once and for all, moves to cooperate will not guarantee electoral success as the KMT's alleged corruption would give the DPP an excuse to attack the blue camp.

Soong added to the criticism by saying the KMT should explain why it worked to smear his reputation by accusing him of embezzling KMT funds.

The accusations were made three years ago when Soong was expelled from the KMT for running his own maverick presidential campaign. Soong, who ran as an independent, obtained 36 percent while Lien, the KMT's candidate, came in at a distant third with 23 percent of the vote.

During the campaign, the KMT filed a lawsuit against Soong, accusing him of embezzling large sums from party coffers. After the election, prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to try the Chung Hsing Bills finance case and the KMT dropped the charges.

Chen went on to question the Lien-Soong ticket, doubting Soong's integrity and political capability. He asked whether Soong's run on a join ticket with Lien would necessarily guarantee a successful bid in the 2004 presidential election.

"The KMT might be able to forget the whole deal with respect to Soong's alleged embezzlement," Chen said, noting that Lien had said earlier last week to "let bygones be bygones."

"But to the general public as a whole, there are still questions about the Chung Hsing finance scandal that Soong has yet to make clear [to the public,]" he said.

"As long as those questions remain unanswered, Soong will have a tarnished image in the public eye and I don't think that Soong's cooperation with Lien on a joint ticket will improve their chances to win the 2004 presidential election."