Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday registered for the party’s chairmanship by-election on March 7 to replace former chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Wu resigned last month after the party’s defeats in the Jan. 11 elections.
Chiang, who won re-election for a third term last month, told reporters at KMT headquarters in Taipei that many people have questioned whether the party should “re-discuss or adjust” its cross-strait stance.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“If I am elected party chairperson, the necessary discussion or debate are things that should be done,” he said. “Every proposition, if I am the party chairperson, I would need to respect.”
“The most important thing is to be able to form a consensus after discussions,” he said, adding that the role of the party chair is to serve as “a platform for how to let this project of reforming and transforming [the KMT] run smoothly.”
Shortly before Chiang’s arrival, Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), a National Taiwan University political science professor who was interested in running, but does not qualify, as he has not been a member of the KMT Central Committee or Central Review Committee, arrived at KMT headquarters.
The party should begin its reform effort by allowing all members to run for the chairpersonship, Chang said.
The KMT “is not the Central Committee’s party, nor the Central Review Committee’s party or the Central Standing Committee’s party and much less the party chairperson’s party,” he said.
The KMT “belongs to all party members,” he added.
Former KMT vice chairman and Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) is expected to register today for the by-election, the final day for registrations.
Hau last week said that the KMT should debate whether its cross-strait policies require revision.
The basic consensus on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is the “1992 consensus,” Hau said.
However, the basis of the consensus has been undermined by the Democratic Progressive Party’s denial of the consensus, calling it the “one country, two systems” concept — as well as Beijing’s refusal to acknowledge the Republic of China (ROC), Hau said.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said he made up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng and CNA
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