The KMT is working to stamp out the memory of the former chairman that led the party for 16 years.
The KMT last week revoked the membership of Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Yesterday, party officials ordered portraits of Lee be removed from all KMT buildings and offices.
The decision was made in a meeting of the party's Central Committee. The portraits are expected to be removed after the decision to revoke Lee's membership is reported to the party's Central Standing Committee today.
Currently, Lee's portrait adorns a hall in the KMT's headquarters -- alongside portraits of party founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) and former party chairman Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Lee's portraits can also been seen at most local KMT divisions.
Chang Che-shen (
The one hanging at the KMT's headquarters will be kept in the Party Achieves Library after it is taken down.
The Central Committee also decided yesterday that no portraits of the party's future leaders will go up, though pictures of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek will continue to be displayed.
Chang added that the party would not replace Lee's portraits with pictures of incumbent Chairman Lien Chan (
Soon after the decision was made yesterday, Lien ordered pictures of Chiang Ching-kuo to continue being displayed as a "token" of remembrance for his past contributions to the party.
In related developments, a group of roughly 30 KMT members from Kaohsiung quit the party to join the DPP in protest over the party's decision to kick Lee out of the party.
The defections were orchestrated by Kaohsiung DPP legislative candidate Lin Chin-hsing (林進興). Lin said that many KMT members had contacted him recently to express their frustration with the party and their desire to join the DPP.
Lin said the ouster of Lee had underscored the betrayal of the "Taiwan first" policies the former president had advocated.
Lin also urged pro-localization KMT members to leave the party and vote for DPP candidates in the year-end legislative elections.
But yesterday's move was immediately dismissed by the KMT as a "campaign gimmick."
Lee Yuan-chuan (李源泉), head of the KMT's Kaohsiung division, said Lin should quit interfering in the KMT's business and stop attempting to split the party.
China, for its part, is happy to see Lee's ouster from the KMT.
A report from Beijing yesterday cited the China Daily as calling Lee's ouster "a blessing to the party and people alike."
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS