The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) farcical handling of the defense budget review has reached a new low, unmasking fractures in a party being pulled in multiple directions.
At a Central Standing Committee meeting, Chi Lin-lien (季麟連), one of the KMT’s four vice chairmen and retired Marine Corps general, lashed out at his own party over defense budget disagreements. Saying that he could not believe that Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) would “betray his party for personal gain,” he went on to call for Han’s expulsion should that be the case.
Chi also singled out KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) and asked her not to do anything that would “hurt allies and please enemies.” Endeavoring to smooth things over, KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that there was constructive communication between party headquarters and the legislative caucus. This papering over the cracks failed to conceal the KMT’s propensity of excelling at internal squabbles, but struggling with external challenges.
Since the start of this year, the KMT has opposed the ruling party’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget. It has put forward two competing proposals of its own, one of NT$800 billion and one of NT$380 billion “plus N” — referring to unspecified additions. The party has, absurdly, been unable to reconcile between these two self-proposed alternatives.
Of all Taiwan’s political parties, the KMT has by far and away the largest number of active and retired senior military officers. This makes it all the more ridiculous that, instead of bringing together experienced military officers to plan defense procurement efficiently and decisively, the party has passed off these decisions to all manner of inexperienced hands. The chair, legislators and even guest-starring local government heads have each waded into the debate, producing a two-way deadlock that has exposed the sorry state of the century-plus-old party.
Chi Lin-lien himself once served as lieutenant general of the Marine Corps. He was the first retired senior officer who emerged as head of the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) — a veteran-aligned faction of the KMT that was dissolved in 2024 and Cheng has sought to revitalize — and later KMT vice chairman. He should cherish his reputation and military background well worth taking care to uphold the integrity of. However, during Han 2020 presidential campaign, Chi was present at most of Han’s rallies, captured by the media on one occasion bowing differentially to give way to Han. The image left me surprised and deeply disappointed.
When that is contrasted to Chi’s call to expel Han from the party, or his claims that Han has lost any remaining political value, I cannot help but recall an old saying: once a Marine, always a Marine. Unfortunately, it seems that even the ironclad spirit of the Marines can be worn down by politics and the pursuit of power.
Ultimately, Cheng has demonstrated a severe lack of leadership as chairwoman in her prioritization of politically self-serving pro-China policies. To avoid being buried alongside her, dissenting party legislators and local factions have been forced to seek alternative paths.
Chi has become an out-and-out political opportunist since retiring from the military. He has made repeated blunders along the way, just as he seeks to leverage Huang to reinforce his own position, but sows deeper divisions within the party on the way. There appears to be no end in sight for this political charade; rather, it seems set to extend in “plus N” perpetuity.
Fang Ping-sheng is a retired Marine Corps major.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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