Lin Hsing-er (林杏兒), head of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Department of Youth Affairs, yesterday called for an end to infighting after former KMT secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) joined party members opposed to the reinstatement of Independent Legislator Fu Kun-chi’s (傅崐萁) membership.
King in a Pop Radio interview said that Fu was “like a time bomb,” adding that the decision regarding his reinstatement should not be made until the party elects a new chairperson and Central Standing Committee members on March 7.
Reinstating Fu, who was expelled from the party in 2009, would be a “hasty and wrong decision,” King on Monday told a news conference held by a group of younger KMT members, including Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯).
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lin, who is also on the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, urged younger party members not to become “puppets” in what she described as a continuation of the infighting that had damaged the party in the past.
Infighting has re-emerged just as the KMT is about to reform, Lin said.
“Do not leave the previous generation’s fighting to our generation,” she said. “Our generation hopes for and needs change.”
“The DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] should be the first to oppose Fu Kun-chi’s return to the KMT,” Lin said. “But oddly, it was KMT people who came out to stop it.”
“Right now, the KMT’s primary battleground is in the Legislative Yuan,” she said. “We need to unite more forces.”
Lin asked why the party would close its doors to Fu “when the KMT is most in need.”
“Would it be bad for the KMT to have one more [legislative] seat?” she asked.
“The edges of [the KMT’s] knives should be pointed outward,” she said, calling for party unity amid plans for reform.
KMT Central Committee member Chen Mao-chia (陳茂嘉) echoed Lin’s call, saying: “It is the KMT that needs Fu Kun-chi and not Fu Kun-chi who needs the KMT.”
The KMT’s Party Disciplinary Committee was scheduled to review Fu’s case yesterday, but the KMT in a statement on Monday said that the meeting would be canceled because a quorum would not be reached.
Additional reporting by CNA
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