Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday dismissed speculation that the party had entered a “post-Wu era” as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) may soon be taking the helm of the KMT.
“There's no such thing as KMT staffers being divided into different camps ... I've always been supportive of President Ma, so what camp would I belong to if the rumors were true?” Wu said at KMT headquarters.
Wu made the remarks in response to a story in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday that party staffers had started to choose sides as speculation was rife that Ma intended to take the party chairmanship.
Some staffers had even displayed notepaper from the Presidential Office to emphasize their close relationship with the executive office, the report said.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義) dismissed the rumors, saying senior officials and a few party staffers are able to participate in Presidential Office meetings. Anyone who had participated in the meetings could take notepaper from the Presidential Office and having some had nothing to do with the person's relationship with the Presidential Office.
Wu Poh-hsiung said he and Ma would finalize the chairmanship issue by the middle of this month.
“We will make a decision that will serve the interests of the KMT and President Ma,” he said.
Registration for candidates for the KMT chairman election opens on June 15 and the election is scheduled for July 26.
Following the election, the KMT will hold its annual congress in September, including a handover ceremony to welcome the new chairman and revise party regulations.
Wu Poh-hsiung said the party would hold the congress at Yangmingshan's Zhongshan Building to celebrate the KMT's return to power last year.
The 18th KMT congress is scheduled for Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, Wu Poh-hsiung said
The Zhongshan Building on Yangmingshan National Park was built in 1966 to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙). It was mostly used by the then-KMT regime for the national assembly and to house guests.
The government opened the Zhongshan Building to the public after the national assembly was dissolved.
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-rong (李建榮) said the party had considered other locations for the congress, but the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei International Convention Center were already booked.
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