A series of challenges awaits President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as he prepares to take over the party chairmanship, analysts said yesterday.
Ma was elected KMT chairman in yesterday’s party election in which he was the sole candidate for the top post. He will take over the job on Sept. 12 during the party congress.
Ma, who had said he would not take over the KMT chairmanship during last year’s presidential campaign, changed his mind after assuming office and announced his candidacy last month in a bid to tighten his control over the legislature, the party and cross-strait affairs.
PHOTO: HOU CHENG-HSU, TAIPEI TIMES
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a political commentator at National Dong Hwa University, said Ma’s decision to double as party chairman was not surprising and that the KMT’s functions will be weakened under Ma’s leadership regardless of his support in yesterday’s election.
“Ma takes over the chairmanship in order to hold the KMT’s power in check and centralize his power, Shih said.
While Ma repeatedly he was not seeking the chairmanship to expand his power but to take more responsibility, Shih said it was clear that Ma wanted the job to push through his policies more effectively and to eliminate negative factors on his way to a second term as president.
As KMT chairman, Ma will have more control on the nomination of party candidates, especially after the redrawing of administrative zones following the mergers or upgrade of counties and cities.
However, challenges and opposition from local factions have delayed the KMT’s nomination process for local government head elections and finalizing candidates for the December’s polls will be Ma’s first task as chairman.
In Hualien, for example, five politicians registered for the KMT’s primary for the county commissioner election. However, the party called off the primary last month, reportedly because Ma wanted Minister of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) to run in the election.
The KMT has had a hard time finalizing a candidate for the Yunlin County legislative by-election because former legislator Chang Sho-wen’s (張碩文) father, Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元) — who was found guilty of vote-buying in his first trial — insists on running in the election.
Shih said Ma, who has kept his distance from local factions, would have to deal with the local politics if he plans to nominate candidates with integrity as he has promised.
Wang Kun-yi (王崑義), a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, said Ma’s doubling as KMT chairman will give him absolute power over the party, the legislature, the military and cross-strait affairs.
He said the Ma administration could become authoritarian if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) failed to keep the KMT’s performance in check.
“Ma could rule the nation in an open yet authoritarian way. The DPP should prevent that from happening,” he said.
There has been intense speculation that Ma might attend a KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cross-strait forum in his role as KMT chairman to meet his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Taking control of the KMT’s communication channel with Beijing would help Ma eliminate the influence of old KMT heavyweights such as former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and outgoing KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hisung (吳伯雄), and claim full authority over cross-strait affairs, Wang said.
Yang Tai-shun (楊泰順), a political science professor at Chinese Culture University, said the main reason Ma wanted the KMT job was to implement his cross-strait policies and control of cross-strait affairs.
Ma could use the KMT’s legislative majority to amend the Constitution, Shih said. He said Ma should ponder the three-way relationship between the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan because taking over the chairmanship alone would not solve the power struggle between the three.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS