Who is President Chen Shui-bian's (
Political observers think that with PFP Chairman James Soong (
"The current Taipei mayoral election campaign shows that Ma's strategy is to be respectful to Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), criticize Chen and ignore [DPP mayoral candidate] Lee Ying-yuan (李應元)," senior political observer Hu Wen-hui (胡文輝) said.
"And for the sake of retaking the capital for the DPP, President Chen joined the campaign earlier than scheduled and launched fierce attacks on Ma during his stumps for the DPP's Lee. This has made an impression of the duel between Ma and A-bian on the electorate," Hu said.
"Once the Bian-Ma duel becomes the mainstream discourse in the media, people will pin their hopes for national leadership on these two political stars and thereby push for a generational change in Taiwan's political parties. Fifty-something politicians will dominate the political stage, while those over 60 will have to step down or play a role behind the scenes," Hu said.
Hu pointed out that the political trends are quite clear -- within the KMT, the party is focusing more on Ma.
As Lien Chan has proved to be an unattractive product in the electoral market and the party's reforms have gone nowhere over the past two years, the KMT's future is solely dependent on Ma. Hence, the party elite and members under 50 have been cozying up to him.
"Party elders know all too well that they won't be able to win the next presidential election with chairman Lien Chan alone. Cooperation with James Soong would mean the annexation of the party by the PFP," Hu said. "And party leaders such as Wu Po-hsiung (
Chin Heng-wei (
"The fact that pan-blue politicians have jumped on Ma's bandwagon one after the other forced Soong to take the stage early, raising his voice in lashing out at President Chen, lest he should be eliminated in this round of political competition in the media," Chin said.
Chin added that Soong's recent passionate comments were an indication of his anxiety. Soong's public statement of being "willing to drop the bid for the presidency if President Chen honestly faces the `one China' question" is equivalent to a declaration of his presidential bid. Soong even resorted to personal attacks against the president on several occasions in order to boost his media exposure.
"Chen, commanding the strategic position as the president, could change his target at will. He can alternately attack Ma and Soong, has the control over initiatives and can sow discord in the pan-blue camp," Chin said.
"What worries Soong is that once his competitor in the pan-blue camp changes from Lien to Ma, his chances become slimmer," Chin added.
The key lies in Lien's inclination and the resistance of some senior party staff and close aides of Lien.
According to Chin, if Lien recognizes the fact that he stands no chance of winning and works with grassroots party members, Ma could become the pan-blue camp's presidential candidate.
Soong wouldn't be able to do anything to combat this move and would have no choice but to retreat from the frontline.
According to Lin Dong-tai (
This shows the level of discontent with the delay in party reforms within the KMT, Lin said.
"The KMT has a long tradition of respecting seniority and the consequence has been that the party is always in the hands of elders, making reforms difficult.
"Now, with the slogan justifying `subversion,' some KMT members obviously hope to cultivate and nurture an atmosphere of anti-seniority. It merits further observation whether this trend will gain steam after Ma wins his re-election," Lin said.
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Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but