President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday returned to the helm of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), saying he would reform the 115-year-old party and pledging to push for peace with Beijing while safeguarding Taiwan’s national sovereignty and dignity.
“We will keep pushing for exchanges between the KMT and [China] to improve mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides,” Ma said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a congratulatory message to Ma on being sworn in as chairman of the KMT and stressed its opposition to Taiwanese independence
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“The CCP expects both sides to deepen mutual trust and enhance cross-strait exchanges and strive for the beautiful future for all Chinese by adhering to the 1992 consensus and opposing Taiwanese independence,” the CCP statement said.
Accepting the party flag from his predecessor, Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), at the handover ceremony at the KMT’s 18th national convention yesterday, Ma pledged to present a “final solution” to the KMT’s party asset problem by the end of this year.
“The KMT will deal with party assets as soon as possible, and we are in the last mile in handling the only remaining asset,” Ma said in his inauguration speech to more than 1,600 delegates gathered at Hsinjhuang Gymnasium.
Ma said the party would present the solution by the end of this year to liquidate the asset — the Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) — adding that the party would refrain from owning any businesses in the future.
The company is estimated to be worth more than NT$20 billion (US$620 million). Ma said about NT$15 billion of the proceeds from the sale would be used to pay for retirement pensions and to pay off debts, with the remainder to be donated to charity.
Ma had made the same promise in 2005 when he first served as party chairman, but failed in his attempt to get rid of all assets by last year.
Ma outlined six goals in his speech, from cleaning up the party’s asset to fighting election bribery, and said the party would help implement government policies.
He pledged to take action against members who violated party regulations by running in local government elections in December.
“We regret that some members violated party regulations to run in elections, and we must follow party regulations and punish them. How could we maintain party discipline otherwise?” he said.
The KMT is facing splits in Hualien, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Nantou as defiant KMT members ignored party regulations and joined the elections against party candidates.
Seeking to keep local factions from affecting the elections, Ma said the party would re-examine the role of local factions and prevent them from blocking local resources and ignoring the interested public.
Ma also gave his support to the party’s investigation into vote-buying and bribery allegations that emerged at the KMT central standing committee election last week.
Ma thanked Wu for agreeing to take over as party chairman after he stepped down in 2006 over his alleged misuse of his special allowance fund as former Taipei mayor, and praised Wu for leading the party to win legislative elections and the presidential election.
Wu and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) were both invited to serve as honorary chairmen and to continue pushing for cross-strait exchanges via the KMT-CCP forum. The CCP also sent a congratulatory letter to Wu and Lien for being honorary chairmen.
In a tearful farewell address, Wu promised to give his full support to Ma and defended the role of the KMT-CCP forum in efforts to improve cross-strait relations while maintaining national dignity.
“The KMT-CCP forum proceeded with reciprocal negotiation, and Taiwan’s dignity was never diminished. We stand firm on the Taiwan-centric stance,” he said.
Six of the eight KMT vice chairpersons kept their posts, including Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏), KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), sChiayi Mayor Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠) and Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正).
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) said they would not serve as vice chairmen, to avoid conflict.
Ma will begin campaigning tours around the nation to boost support for party nominees in the year-end elections.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS