The in-fighting between the two rivals for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship election is set to end today when the party is expected to allow any members who are behind in their membership fees to vote in the July 16 poll.
"All members can vote in the chairmanship election as long as their right to vote has not been revoked for failing to pay membership fees," KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) told reporters yesterday morning.
Lin made the comment before accompanying KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to pay tribute at the mausoleum of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) in Taoyuan County.
PHOTO: CNA
Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of Chiang's death as well as being Tomb-Sweeping Day. This is the last year the public will be able to visit Chiang's mausoleum since the family has asked the government to bury his body along with that of his son and successor Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in a military cemetery in the north of the country by the end of the year.
The KMT's resolution of the membership fee, a compromise of two proposals, skillfully avoids confrontation on the thorny issue once the Central Standing Committee gives it the go-ahead during today's weekly meeting.
Two weeks ago the committee was deadlocked over whether to let members who have not paid their fees vote. Hesitant to decide the issue with a showdown vote, Lien ordered further negotiations and another round of discussion in the committee's weekly meeting.
One of the proposals was made by the party's organization and development committee. Its proposal argues that party members must pay their dues in order to be eligible to vote in the chairmanship election. Those who failed to pay should lose their right to vote only if they refuse to pay after being notified by the party.
The other proposal, forwarded by 20 members of the Central Standing Committee, said that all party members should be allowed to vote regardless of whether or not they have paid their fees. The committee also proposed amending the code regulating payments of fees in such a way that the rule would not apply to the chairmanship election.
The dispute has divided the party and supporters of the two candidates vying for the chairmanship. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) supports the idea of requiring members to pay their dues before having the right to vote in the election, while Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), does not.
Ma said yesterday that he will respect his party's "final compromise version."
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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