PFP, KMT to announce campaign team

PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and his KMT counterpart Lien Chan (連戰) are expected to meet today to announce who will head the eight committees that will coordinate their joint campaign for next year's presidential election, PFP spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) said yesterday.

The announcement comes a week after the two parties ditched their original idea to set up a single alliance policy-making committee to direct the campaign.

"If all goes accordingly," Hwang said, "the eight panels will convene their first meeting this Friday, during which it is very likely that the alliance's candidates for the joint ticket will be announced."

It is widely assumed that Lien will head the joint ticket with Soong as his running mate.

KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said that Lien and Soong would probably meet today, adding that they would get together at the Pate Building, which belongs to the KMT. The building will be the presidential campaign headquarters for the KMT-PFP alliance.

The building served as Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) campaign headquarters last December as well as for then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Lien, then the vice president, when they were running in the 1996 presidential election.

The eight committees will be charged with different aspects of the campaign: the legislature, politics, publicity, campaign affairs, cross-strait affairs, finance and economy, education and culture, and administration.

The committees will be co-convened by a member from each party. Speculation suggests that the KMT's six vice chairpersons, Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) and Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), vice president of a KMT-owned think tank, will represent the KMT. The PFP representatives will likely be Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄), Secretary-General Tsai Chung-hsiung (蔡鐘雄), Deputy Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) and PFP Legislators Diane Lee (李慶安), Chung Jung-chi (鐘榮吉) and Liu Sung-pan (劉松藩). It is not clear who will take the other two places for the PFP.

Soong had previously said that although he and Lien will be responsible for all decisions under the new mechanism, any policies they come up with will still have to be supported by their own parties.

Hwang said a decision would be made on who would be in charge of the alliance's party headquarters in early May at the latest.

Chinese-language media speculates that KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has been tapped to head the alliance's campaign headquarters with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as the deputy chief.

Wang, who also is the legislative speaker, said that he had not been informed about the role.

"My ability is limited," Wang said when asked to comment if he has any interest in the position. "I hope they will not consider me."

Ma, who is also a KMT vice chairman, also said he had not been informed about the post.

Ma said that he would not mind taking on the role on a part-time basis only, as governing Taipei City was his main responsibility.