The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said it is organizing nationwide Central Standing Committees (CSC) meetings starting next week to boost momentum for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and KMT legislative candidates in the run-up to January’s presidential and legislative elections.
Ma, who doubles as the KMT chairman, would lead committee members in holding the CSC meetings, the highest decision-making body in the KMT, in Taoyuan, New Taipei City (新北市) and seven major cities and counties in southern Taiwan every Wednesday.
KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) said local campaign teams organized by legislators to promote government policies will also begin this month to hold small forums on an irregular basis with local residents, which are aimed at building residents’ understanding of the Ma administration’s efforts to improve the nation.
She brushed aside speculation about Ma’s problematic relations with the party’s old guard and said former KMT chairmen Lien Chan (連戰) and Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), as well as Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will all attend campaign activities with Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), in support of the presidential ticket.
“Chairman Lien, Chairman Wu and Speaker Wang will lead different campaign groups as the election campaign efforts are entering a critical stage. The KMT will be united and win the elections,” she said.
Ma yesterday defended the government’s performance in presiding over the CSC and said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should reflect on its poor performance before making accusations against his administration.
The nation’s unemployment rate increased from 3.8 percent in 2008 to 4.4 percent in August this year. Under the former DPP government, the unemployment rate increased from 2.7 percent to 5.2 percent from 2000 to 2003.
“The rise in unemployment since we took office is about one-quarter of the increase under the DPP government. This is just one example of how the KMT has managed to perform better than the former DPP administration, despite the global financial crisis,” Ma said.
The government will also create a better environment for the development of cultural and creative industries, such as the movie industry, he said.
He also defended a promotion of Chinese classics in a TV campaign advertisement released by his re-election campaign office, and said he expected Taiwan to exercise its influence on traditional Chinese culture in China.
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