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KMT chairman mum on second term

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, third from left, pays respect to the statue of party founder Sun Yat-sen as part of activities commemorating the 80th anniversary of Sun’s burial at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday remained tight-lipped about whether he would seek re-election, saying he would follow the party’s democratic mechanism.

Wu, who returned from an eight-day visit to China yesterday, said in Nanjing that his party had a democratic mechanism to select the party chair and that he would adhere to the rules.

“I am very mindful of the KMT’s previous failures and the painful lessons we have learned,” he said. “What concerns me the most is how to serve the best interest of the party and help President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) win re-election in 2012.”

Wu made the remarks after visiting Zhongshan Ling (中山陵), Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) tomb in Nanjing. This year marks the 80th anniversary of Sun’s burial there. It is Wu’s third visit to Nanjing and second in his capacity as KMT chairman.

Speculation is rife that Ma intends to take over the helm of the KMT. Both Ma and Wu have been discreet on the issue, saying they will not decide until the middle of this month. Registration for the candidacy opens on June 15 and the election is scheduled for July 26.

While Wu has received much criticism for refraining from mentioning the Republic of China during his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) last Tuesday, yesterday he read aloud Chinese characters carved into the stone that read “The KMT buried its chairman here, June 1, the 13th year of the Republic of China.”

Wu has also come under fire for not mentioning President Ma and for using the phrase daonei (島內, “on the island”) when referring to Taiwan.

Wu yesterday said he was “greatly excited” when he saw the character engravings and that he could not find the right words to describe his feelings.

Defining his trip as “better than expected,” Wu said he had done almost everything he wanted to do and had achieved what he expected to achieve.

Wu said he reached a consensus with Hu that while the previous forum between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party focused on economy and trade, the main theme of the upcoming forum next month would be culture and education.

Immediately after his return, Wu visited Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.

Two malignant tumors were removed from Siew’s left lung on May 20.

The Presidential Office said Siew would remain hospitalized for two weeks. There has been no word on whether he will receive chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday criticized Wu for his remark that de-Sinification was a counter-current in Taiwan, saying Wu had given up his status as a Taiwanese.

DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said more than 70 percent of Taiwanese thought Taiwan was a sovereign country, and if Wu believed de-Sinification and “one Taiwan, one China” were a counter-current, then the public should worry about whether Wu and the KMT were selling Taiwan to China.

Lee said that as the leader of the KMT, an anti-communist party, Wu had confused his role by behaving more like a Chinese Communist Party member than a KMT leader.

Lee yesterday also criticized the government for not planning any events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre in what he said was a bid to avoid offending Beijing. Lee said he suspected that Ma had timed his visit to Taiwan’s allies to avoid being in Taiwan for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest on June 4.

He said the DPP caucus would today request that the legislature pass a resolution to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

DPP Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said it was ironic that while Hong Kong planned to hold big events to commemorate the June 4 massacre, the sovereign state of Taiwan did not dare make its voice heard.

Additional reporting by Rich Chang
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