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Wu denies feud within the KMT

"Now that Ma has found someone critical of the KMT [as the party's spokesman], doesn't it show that Ma is willing to accommodate different voices?"

Wu Den-yih, KMT legislator

Infighting within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to the surface yesterday after media reports said that a personal feud was behind the recent resignation of a top party official.

A report published in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday quoted the KMT's organization and development committee director Liao Fung-te (廖風德) as saying that his resignation would benefit KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), given that the two men were at odds with each other.

Wu, who is likely to be the party's new secretary-general, yesterday denied that Liao insisted on resigning because the two of them did not get along.

Wu confirmed that Liao insisted on leaving his post, but said that the resignation had nothing to do with any discord between them.

Liao wanted to leave because of the party's failure in the Kaohsiung mayoral election last month, Wu said, adding that KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and he are trying to persuade Liao to stay.

The report also said KMT officials were dissatisfied with Ma's recruitment of Su Jin-pin (蘇俊賓), a political commentator who criticized the party on a pro-independence TV program, as the party's new spokesman.

Su, a former assistant to KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄), was recruited by Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) to be chief of the county government's environmental protection bureau.

"People used to criticize Ma for recruiting too many people with homogenous views. Now that Ma has found someone critical of the KMT [as the party's spokesman], doesn't it show that Ma is willing to accommodate different voices?" he said.

Ma's recent reshuffle of party staffers had also prompted some criticism that he was favoring people from the China Times because a deputy editorial writer at the China Times, Yang Tu (楊渡), has been appointed chairman of the party's culture and communications commission.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) yesterday said that the relationship between the KMT and the DPP may not improve if Wu becomes the KMT's secretary-general, because "the key to cross-party harmony still lies in whether Ma will change his attitude."

Huang said Wu's assignment to the post only meant that Ma would have a better first-hand understanding of what is going on in the legislature in the future.

But Wu may have to spend more time preventing friction between Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT caucus heavyweights Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) and Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), Huang said.

If Wu has to spend most of his time promoting harmony within his party, he may not have spare time to bridge the gap between the KMT and the DPP, he said.
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