A meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair-man Ma Ying-jeou (
Before the meeting between the pan-blue leaders, Ma will first meet with a delegation from the PFP in charge of negotiations on a merger.
Asked about possible topics during the meeting, Ma said "anything can be discussed," including the merger, since the KMT passed a resolution to merge with the PFP last year.
KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (
The KMT has long been looking forward to such a merger, which was one of the goals laid down by the party's Central Standing Committee last year, Cheng said.
The unification of the two parties is not only the wish of the two parties' authorities, but also the sincere expectation of their supporters and the KMT will do its best to make it happen, the spokeswoman said.
In a move matching the PFP's formation of a panel in charge of merger talks with the KMT, Cheng said Ma has asked KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
In order to unify the two parties, Cheng said, "The KMT will treat the PFP with the highest regard and hopefully the merger can be completed before the end of the year."
The PFP, set up in 2000, is a splinter group of the KMT.
Soong is a former KMT secretary-general, and the party's members are former KMT members.
However, the PFP's strength declined after last year's presidential elections, in which Soong teamed up with then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (
The party is now facing the risk of being sidelined after the Dec. 3 local elections in which it won only one county commissioner seat -- in Kinmen -- out of 23 openings up for grabs, and that only thanks to the courtesy of the KMT, which refrained from naming its own candidate in that county.
Many PFP lawmakers have called for a merger with the KMT, which won 14 seats in last Saturday's race and is on the way for a showdown with the DPP in the 2008 presidential race.
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