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KMT gesture to Soong political

The KMT on Wednesday dropped all allegations of embezzlement against PFP chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), saying that the allegations had "all been a result of misunderstanding."

Although the KMT Administration and Management Committee Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) insisted that the party's move to clear Soong's name was not motivated by next year's presidential elections but merely a gesture to let the truth be known with relation to the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal (興票案), political observers said otherwise.

"It is definitely political," said sociology professor at the National Taiwan University Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), pointing to the timing of the KMT move, which came in the midst of KMT-PFP negotiations over who should run on the joint ticket in the 2004 presidential election.

Debate over who will head a joint-presidential ticket for the 2004 election and who will serve as the running mate has plagued relations between the parties since KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Soong announced the partnership last month.

Chiu suggests that the KMT had made the effort to clear Soong's name as a peace offering to Soong to get him to agree with the KMT's preference for fielding Lien as the presidential candidate and Soong as Lien's running mate.

"If all the KMT wanted to do is uphold Soong's innocence, it could have then done so long ago when the scandal first erupted three year or so ago," Chiu said.

Allegations of the financial scandal first surfaced in December 1999 when then KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) accused Soong of involvement in irregular money transactions involving hundreds of millions of NT dollars from the party during Soong's tenure as the party's secretary-general and the Taiwan Provincial Government's coffers while serving as the provincial governor.

Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political observer and editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, said that "the KMT's announcement was meaningless but political."

"Before, the KMT liked to claim that they were in control of the courtroom," Chin said. "But now that the KMT isn't in control of the courtroom, it chose to stage a trial and play the judge itself."

Chin said the KMT's move to drop claims against Soong was a political statement and that extending a good-will gesture to Soong is a bid to pave the way for cooperation between the KMT and the PFP in next year's presidential election.

It is well-known that, despite a pledge of cooperation, Soong has been holding a grudge against the KMT for accusing him of embezzling KMT funds and tarnishing his reputation during the 2000 presidential election.

The case was used by the KMT to attack Soong. Aside from filing a lawsuit against Soong before the 2000 elections the KMT ran a series of negative advertisements attacking Soong's credibility and integrity and painted Soong -- who then was running his own maverick campaign -- as a greedy and deceitful billionaire.

The subsequent political fallout dealt a severe blow to Soong's campaign and has since plagued Soong's public image.

In numerous public appearances since pledging a KMT-PFP partnership, Soong has been hinting that the KMT should explain why it tried to smear his reputation by accusing him of embezzling KMT funds.

Soong's followers have on several occasions urged Lien and the KMT to uphold Soong's innocence.

Despite the move from the KMT to clear Soong's name, Soong will continue to have a tarnished image and that will continue to harm Soong's political career, Chin said.

"The KMT's act to exonerate Soong from the embezzlement allegations serves more as a minus than a plus for Soong," he said. "By re-introducing talk about the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal, it only again reminds the public of Soong's lack of integrity.

"Suspicions surrounding Soong won't go away just because the KMT chose to play the judge itself and dropped allegations against Soong," Chin said. "Until the case makes its way through the judicial system, people in society will continue to doubt Soong's integrity."

Chiu added that since the judicial process is still ongoing, the goodwill gesture from the KMT would most likely serve as a consolation to Soong but not enough to ameliorate Soong's tarnished image.

Chiu added that Wednesday's episode also demonstrated that KMT-PFP cooperation has so far been confined to a power-exchange gesture that's not "party-to-party" but "person-to-person," involving Lien and Soong.

Lien and Soong are expected to meet after the Lunar New Year holidays for further talks on KMT-PFP cooperation in relation to the 2004 election.

"They surely will have a lot to talk about," Chiu said, adding that even if Lien and Soong do somehow manage to reach a consensus as to who will head the ticket and who will be the running mate, party members would then start to weigh in and generate more debates before KMT-PFP come up with an actual ticket for the 2004 presidential election.
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