The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) national congress on Sunday could be interesting for party observers curious to see how President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) interacts with two former rivals.
Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), a former KMT chairman, has not attended an annual congress since 2010, but is likely to show up this year because one of his sons, Sean Lien (連勝文), is standing for Taipei mayor on the KMT ticket in the Nov. 29 elections.
The congress in Chiayi is also to serve as a rally for candidates in the nine-in-one elections.
Sources said KMT headquarters delivered invitations to Lien Chan and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and neither has turned them down.
Relations between Ma and Lien Chan have been said to be rocky since Ma took over as KMT chairman from the former vice president in August 2005.
When the 2011 KMT national congress adopted a resolution to nominate Ma and then-premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) to run in the 2012 presidential election, Lien Chan did not attend. Instead, he had then-KMT vice chairman Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) read a written statement on his behalf, calling on the party to stand united in supporting Ma’s re-election bid.
Lien Chan did not show up for last year’s congress — postponed from Sept. 29 until Nov. 10 because of large anti-Ma protests planned for Sept. 19 and the internecine “September strife” that erupted when Ma tried to oust Wang from the party and consequently, his legislative seat, over allegations of improper lobbying.
During the “September strife,” Lien Chan first had an assistant criticize Ma for “humiliating” Wang, then asked Sean Lien to visit Wang to show the Liens’ support.
Those wanting Ma and Wang to reconcile last fall asked Lien Chan to act as a middleman, but a lack of mutual trust prevented Ma and the speaker from meeting, sources said.
In the KMT primary for the Taipei mayoral race this year, Sean Lien faced a hard battle against KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), leading many to believe that Ma was behind Ting’s pursuit of the candidacy. Ma voted for Ting in the primary.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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