Thu, Jul 19, 2018 page8

• The KMT: A party that lost its soul

  • By Lee Hsiao-feng 李筱峰
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  Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) has once again visited China to pay tribute to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  While Lien and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the trip was private and that Lien does not represent the party, it hardly makes much difference.

  Since the first transition of power and the KMT’s expulsion of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), KMT members throughout the party hierarchy have scrambled to surrender to Beijing.

  In the eyes of Taiwanese, who were forced to subscribe to the ideology of “eliminating the communist bandits, fighting communism and restoring the nation,” the KMT — a political group that rose to power on the back of its “anti-communism” stance — has given up all opposition and is now leading the rush to fawn on the communist regime.

  This is both awkward and bizarre, and represents the least ambitious phase throughout the KMT’s transformation.

  In the 1950s and 1960s, the KMT trumpeted political slogans, such as “destroy the communist bandits and expel the Russian marauders,” “retake the mainland and save our compatriots,” “take revenge and restore the nation,” “recover the nation” and “never forget the nation’s humiliation in times of peace and security.”

  In the 1970s, the slogans were “no compromise with communists — freedom can only be achieved through struggle,” “patriotism means fighting communism, fighting communism requires unity” and “remain calm, self-reliant and dignified in times of adversity.”

  In the 1980s, the party proclaimed that it would “unify China with the Three Principles of the People.”

  Despite the modifications over the years, these slogans at least preserved the party’s integrity and underlined its political stance.

  However, both have gradually subsided into oblivion with the passing of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), to whom KMT members pledge their loyalty.

  All these bold and daring slogans are now gone, replaced by the so-called “1992 consensus,” “one China, different interpretations,” “one China, one interpretation,” “the two sides of the strait are one family,” and “the Republic of China Army and the People’s Liberation Army are both China’s army.”

  People who once called for “keeping our secrets and watching out for spies” and said that “reporting spies is everyone’s responsibility” now behave and speak almost like the “communist spies” of yore.

  People who once called Taiwanese independence advocates the “running dogs of the communist bandits” now flock to Beijing, forming an alliance with the CCP to constrain Taiwan.

  The change from “eliminating the communist bandits” to the current alliance with China to constrain Taiwan poses the question of whether China has become a democracy or if Taiwan has become a totalitarian state.

  Neither is the case — there is no trace of liberalization or democratization of the authoritarian regime in China, a nation that scored only 14 out of 100 in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2018 report, as the regime becomes increasingly totalitarian with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) emperor-like lifelong presidency.

  While the authoritarian CCP regime is eyeing Taiwan, which scored 93 in the survey, the KMT curiously no longer takes to heart its past slogans, such as “no compromise with communists, freedom can only be achieved through struggle” or “patriotism means fighting communism, fighting communism requires unity.”

  Since the KMT calls itself Chinese, it is obviously impossible for it to identify with Taiwan, which is fine, but it should at least devote itself to the democratization and liberalization of China.

  During the authoritarian era under the Chiangs, the KMT unabashedly referred to Taiwan as its “base for restoration” and “a beacon of freedom.”

  Now that Taiwanese democracy is being universally praised, the KMT wants to shut down the beacon and endorse China’s authoritarian regime. Such an about-face completely deviates from the second of the Three Principles of the People — the rights of the people — revered by the KMT in the past.

  Some people say that China’s economy is on the rise, but 33 percent of the nation’s total wealth is concentrated in 1 percent of households, while the bottom 25 percent only possess about 1 percent of total wealth. The nation’s Gini coefficient, a measure of the degree of inequality in yearly income distribution, exceeded 0.6 last year, indicating that severe income inequality is bringing China to the edge of social instability.

  Such wealth inequality contravenes the third of the Three Principles: people’s livelihood.

  The KMT should once again proclaim that it will “unify China with the Three Principles of the People,” and Lien should have made proposals based on the rights of the people and the people’s livelihood in his meeting with Xi, rather than passively listening to Xi’s preaching.

  Lien and his delegation should not have trampled on the principles that they once espoused and praised themselves for the sake of “Chinese nationalism,” while forfeiting the rare opportunity to promote China’s democratization and social justice. By not doing so, they let down both Taiwan and China.

  Lee Hsiao-feng is an honorary professor at National Taipei University of Education.

  Translated by Chang Ho-ming

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