After months of hemming and hawing, the KMT yesterday officially called it quits with its estranged former chairman, Lee Teng-hui (
The party yesterday revoked Lee's membership, saying he violated party rules.
PHOTO: AFP
KMT members have been upset with Lee's carousing with the Taiwan Solidarity Union, a rival political group. They're also infuriated with his criticism of the party.
Lee himself is angry with the KMT's infidelity to the pro-Taiwan and localization policies that he worked to implement during his 12 years in power.
Chen Kang-chin (
But the KMT had to go forward with its long-contemplated move, saying "the situation has proven to be irreversible despite all the efforts that have been made."
Chen also said that the KMT had to break off its relationship with Lee for the good of the party. "Any party with organization and discipline can never tolerate malicious defamation made against it by its members," he said.
Chen said committee members attending yesterday's meeting agreed that Lee had committed "severe violations" of the party's charter. Lee has betrayed the party's resolutions, blemished its reputation and harmed the party's interests, Chen said.
Huang Ta-chou (黃大洲), Lee's former student and a committee member, stayed clear of yesterday's meeting.
Huang said he didn't agree with Lee's recent conduct, but added that it was inconvenient for him to express any opinion on the matter in light of his relationship with Lee.
Lee's support of the TSU has been seen by the KMT as an open challenge to the party. The former president has said the TSU's ideals are consistent with his own, and that he'll do everything possible to help the new political party achieve victory in the year-end legislative elections.
During a Taichung rally on Sunday, Lee even challenged the KMT to kick him out of the party, but he denied he was the one that needed discipline.
Instead, Lee said KMT members who have strayed from the anti-communist path and pandered to leaders in Beijing should be punished first.
Lee's Sunday remarks were made in response to a letter the KMT sent to him two days earlier, in which the party urged him to quit on his own accord if he "doesn't identify with the party's ideals."
The letter was written after attempts to meet with Lee in person failed.
According to the KMT's definition, a "revocation of membership" is a lighter punishment than "expulsion."
Those who have their membership revoked can have their membership restored one year later. Members who are expelled are not allowed to rejoin until two years after their ouster.
Lifetime membership in the party runs NT$10,000.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"The party has its rules, and we have to act according to the system," Lien said.
Lee is the first former KMT chairman to be ousted from the party in its 107-year history, though he's not the first party leader to get the boot.
In 1995 -- under Lee's leadership -- the KMT revoked the membership of two vice chairmen, Lin Yang-kang (
Former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong (
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS