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KMT irate over claims of ROC's demise

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lambasted President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over his comment that dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) had once said that "the Republic of China [ROC] had already perished following the loss of mainland China."

At a press conference on Thursday, Chen said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had eliminated the ROC. The comment came in response to criticism from KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who had accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of colluding with China in attacking the ROC.

"Please don't forget that on March 13, 1950, former president Chiang Kai-shek said on Yangmingshan that the ROC had already perished following the loss of mainland China and they were the people of a conquered nation," Chen said on Thursday.

"The KMT cannot distort history and blame the DPP for something we did not do," he said.

KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) yesterday said that Chen was the one who was "twisting historical fact."

KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), grandson of Chiang Kai-shek, also condemned Chen's remark, saying that his grandfather had simply been expressing his "agony over the loss of mainland China" to the CCP in a speech delivered to KMT staffers.

Saying that Chiang Kai-shek's actual words were, "Our ROC almost perished as of the end of last year [1949] after the loss of mainland China," John Chiang said his grandfather used the word "almost" to emphasize the need for KMT staffers to remember the defeat.

"The former president never said that the ROC perished," he said, adding that he was considering a defamation suit against Chen.

Showing the press a transcription of Chiang Kai-shek's 1950 speech, Shao Ming-huang (邵銘煌), director of the KMT's party archives library, said Chen had garbled Chiang Kai-shek's message.

Shao dismissed Chen's interpretation of the speech as "immoral," and said the president was indulging in "political discourse" instead of sticking to "historical facts."

Shao said that Chiang Kai-shek had delivered the speech after he resumed the "presidency of the ROC" on March 1, 1950, so it was "illogical" for Chen to allege that Chiang Kai-shek had admitted the demise of the ROC.

The record of the speech provided by the library stated: "Our ROC almost perished as of the end of last year [1949] after the loss of mainland China. We have all become conquered people, but we are unaware of this. Isn't this sad ... we should regard `revival of the ROC' as our common goal.'"

China yesterday issued a sweeping denunciation of Chen, accusing him of stirring animosity between the two sides of the Strait.

The statement from an unidentified spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office came after Chen accused Beijing of practicing totalitarianism and threatening world peace in a National Day speech in Taipei on Wednesday.

Chen "ignored the Taiwanese compatriots' wish for peace, stability and development," said the Chinese statement, carried on the Web site of the official China News Service.

"At the same time, he flew the flag of democracy and human rights, endeavoring to cover the wounds of his many scandals, deliberately provoked antagonism between the two sides in the name of his own selfish interests and that of his party," it said.

Additional reporting by AP
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