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KMT mulls rebranding strategies at seminar

"To restart, we should speak the name `ROC' loudly, to maintain the ROC's dignity and sovereignty, so that we can fight the independence group effectively on cross-strait relations, and separate ourselves from the `Taiwan Republic' ideal proposed by the independence group."

Chang Zu-kang, KMT `567 alliance' member

Cross-strait relations and localization still remain thorny reform issues for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has been incapable of offering firm and clear responses. These problems were clear yesterday during a symposium on party's future held by a group of KMT politicians.

The Taiwan New Hope Alliance (台灣新希望連線), a new KMT faction of 15 incumbent pro-localization legislators, held a two-day symposium to discuss the party's future direction.

The session yesterday was designed to focus on the party's positioning, and most people concentrated on discussing the party's policy on Taiwan's status and cross-strait relations.

Legislative Speaker and KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), focused on the two issues in his opening speech, although he preferred vagueness to outlining his stands clearly.

"I have often mulled over what the pro-localization approach is, and I have asked many about it and got many different answers," Wang said.

"Finally I have decided that the best approach for the KMT in the future would be to pursue the maximum interests for the country and the people, and to strive for national development, stability and peace between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait," Wang said.

Wang proposed future cross-strait relations should be defined as a relation between the "free area" and "the mainland area," as mapped out by the Constitution and consistent with the status quo.

"The Constitution uses the words `free area,' and `mainland area,' and the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) also uses the words such as `Taiwan area' and `mainland area,'" Wang said.

"The two sides should first create an indefinite space both can accept so both sides can relax and try to seek a peaceful solution," Wang said.

Chang Zu-kang (張斯綱), the main speaker and a member of the KMT's "567 alliance" of younger politicians, said the KMT faced three major problems: unclear core values, unclear reform policies, and a lack of younger talent.

"To restart, we should speak the name `ROC' loudly, to maintain the ROC's dignity and sovereignty, so that we can fight the independence group effectively on cross-strait relations, and separate ourselves from the `Taiwan Republic' ideal proposed by the independence group," Chang said.

"We should also tell the public clearly that the KMT is a pro-localization group, and try to develop pluralism to replace a closed-minded localization culture," he said.

The host, KMT legislator and Taiwan New Hope Alliance member Lo Shih-hsiung, stated his determination to make reform come about.

"We should not just talk about the reform policies, but we have to carry them out -- otherwise our opponents may laugh at us and say this talk is just election tricks," Lo said.

Meanwhile, three Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative candidates appeared outside the convention hall to lampoon the Taiwan New Hope alliance, changing "New Hope" to "No Hope."

"The alliance chickened out at the voting for the reconsideration request on the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例), and voted against the request," TSU legislative candidate David Huang (黃適卓) said.

Huang, present with Chiu Teh-hung (邱德宏) and Ling Tzu-chu (凌子楚), said that the alliance had also kept silent in public on the issues of party assets, power transfer within the party and cross-strait relations.

Ling, the TSU legislative candidate in Chiayi City, later also got into an argument with Chang about Taiwan's national title when Ling went inside the hall to attend the symposium and asked questions during the question-and-answer session.

"The ROC is disappearing, and it is a false identity given by others while Taiwan is the real identity of the country," Ling said.

But Chang disagreed with Ling's opinion, and said Ling was trying to judge others with arbitrary values.

"It is the other way around: Taiwan is a virtual existence, and the ROC the real one," Chang said.

The symposium's ideas were further attacked when Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung criticized the KMT's ills as incurable and its visions as ineffective remedies.

"The KMT is incurable now, and from what you said earlier, you are talking about using aspirin to cure a patient who needs surgery," Shen said.

"Although Legislative Speaker Wang proposed the `two areas' discourse to define cross-strait relations, while it is legal and constitutional and takes the threat from PRC into major consideration, his discourse would fail to win any election," he said.

"What the KMT needs now is not mild changes, because time is not with the KMT. What the KMT needs now is an epiphany, so you can immediately say and act as a real pro-localization party," Shen said.
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