Tensions between former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) surfaced again following Wang's attacks on the KMT's primary mechanism and what he called its "Mainlander-dominated" environment.
Analysts said that while Wang was trying to raise his profile by playing the ethnicity card, Ma and the party should not overlook the comments as they point to the fact that the party's culture favors "Mainlander candidates," an issue that could split the party ahead of two important elections.
"The KMT has always been a party of Mainlanders," said Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a professor of public administration at Tamkang University. "Wang is a perfect example [to illustrate this trend], as the highest position he could get in the party was in the Legislative Yuan, while party affairs are controlled by Mainlanders."
Wang said he would not join the KMT's presidential primary last week, slamming the party's primary process as tailor-made for a particular candidate, while warning that the ethnicity issue could cause the party victory in the presidential election.
"There have been discussions at home and abroad, as well as in public and in academia, about the appropriateness of the political elite of a minority ethnic group governing a majority ethnic group," Wang said last Monday as he pulled out of the campaign for the KMT's presidential nomination.
After former KMT acting chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
The KMT removed its "black-gold exclusion clause" after Ma was indicted on corruption charges, allowing him to take part in the KMT's presidential primary. The KMT is expected to further relax its regulations when it holds its party congress in June.
While Ma shrugged off Wang's accusations, saying that any amendments to party regulations are the decision of party delegates, Wang's open resentment against the KMT has generated growing concern within the party that the legislative speaker will decide to run in the presidential election as an independent candidate.
Although Wang dismissed a report in the Chinese-language United Day News quoting anonymous sources as saying he would register as an independent in October, Shih said a pan-blue split could be inevitable.
"Wang will announce that he will run as an independent sooner or later. It's no secret that the KMT will do anything to nominate Ma as its presidential candidate," he said.
After a humiliating loss to Ma in the party's chairmanship election two years ago, Wang, a master of political networking, knows that he will be unable to win the trust of KMT "Mainlanders," and does not have any hope of winning the nomination in a fair race, Shih said.
As there could also be a split in the pan-green camp, Shih said, it is possible that Wang may seek to cooperate with that camp and form a "third force" in the election, which could be led by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the spiritual leader of the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
Yang Tai-shun (楊泰順), a professor of political science at Chinese Culture University, agreed that Wang was paving the way for an independent candidacy by raising the ethnicity issue and skipping the KMT's primary, but he said the ethnicity issue was unlikely to hurt Ma.
"Everyone knows that Ma is a Mainlander elite. Although what Wang said is right, it's not going to influence Ma's nomination," he said.
Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華), a political analyst and sociology professor at National Chengchi University, however, said Wang's recent attacks on the party were measures to earn himself more space for negotiation.
"Wang did not shut out the possibility of Ma-Wang ticket and he made those comments to earn bargaining chips and remind Ma he is a vital factor for the KMT's victory in the presidential election," Ku said.
Unlike the situation in the 2004 presidential election, in which the pan-blue camp put more pressure on People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to cooperate with former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), Ku said this time the pressure was on Ma to cooperate with Wang to avoid a pan-blue split.
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