The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced yesterday that Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) would attend its weekly Central Standing Committee regularly on behalf of the Cabinet from next month to enhance cooperation between the government and the party.
Other Cabinet members will be occasionally invited to attend the committee meetings. Cabinet members and KMT city and county heads will take turns reporting to the committee, KMT Spokesman Chen Shu-rong (陳淑容) said.
“The participation of Cabinet members and local government heads will help the KMT carry out its goal of assisting the government as the ruling party,” she said yesterday after a committee meeting at KMT headquarters.
To enhance the effectiveness of the committee, which is the party’s highest decision-making body, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) told the meeting that it was necessary to build a platform between the party and the government.
Wu also said Cabinet members and local government heads needed to be invited to the committee meetings to report on issues relating to public welfare, Chen said.
The KMT elected 32 Central Standing Committee members last Saturday and yesterday was their first meeting.
Hsueh and Wu dismissed concerns that the attendance of Cabinet members at meetings of the party committee would promote “one-party rule.” The administration’s participation in the KMT’s decision-making process would strengthen government communication with party legislators, who hold a majority on the committee, they said.
Wu said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had asked Cabinet members to attend the committee’s weekly meetings to strengthen cooperation.
KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said party regulations did not bar KMT members serving in the Cabinet from attending committee meetings.
Non-KMT members, such as Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), could also be invited to give presentations to the committee, Lee said.
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