The opposition party’s cross-strait policy and international stance have repeatedly sparked debates among Taiwanese.
However, it seems that most party members tend to keep silent about such things, preferring first to wait and see how situations develop. Only a few party leaders speak out on its international policies.
“There needs to be a serious debate within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT),” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
He cited the example of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) New Middle Way, a revised China policy that was proposed in 1999 for his presidential campaign, after a significant amount of discussion within the Democratic Progressive Party.
We have yet to see a policy orientation review like this within the KMT. It did not happen after the political turmoil that pressured presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) to withdraw from the 2016 race, or during the KMT chairman election.
The KMT only simplified its problems with subtle references to some sort of “personal issues” or “personality traits” of a specific candidate.
Seen from the “different perspective” of other political parties, Chen Chi-mai said that the KMT needs to decide whether it should focus on the Chinese market, adopt a “middle way” or adjust its current policy in accordance with changes in international geopolitics — for example, the US-China trade dispute.
KMT members have never had a proper discussion about how to adjust the party’s cross-strait policy accordingly.
The Kaohsiung mayor’s comments do not require superhuman insight. A thorough debate on the party’s policy should not be painful, and indeed it would be extremely productive. The trouble is, the KMT has never given the idea the attention it deserves.
I sincerely hope that the KMT moves with the times, and begins to reflect the ideas and opinions of Taiwanese.
Hu Wen-chi is a former vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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