Taiwan’s China-friendly KMT to select new leader

By Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s main Nationalist opposition
selects a new leader on Saturday, nearly three months after
reconciling with China’s ruling Communists, in a vote seen as
an early primary for the presidential race in 2008.

The two leading candidates both favor closer ties with
China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan its own, and have
vowed to follow the trail led by incumbent chairman Lien Chan
who ended decades of hostility with a historic trip to Beijing
in April.

Opinion polls show Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, born in Hong
Kong, leading parliament speaker Wang Jin-pyng in the
unprecedented, two-way race for the 110-year-old party that was
founded by Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen.

But local-born Wang could still swing the outcome if he can
mobilize traditional grassroots support.

The Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), who once ruled all
of China, fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war in
1949 and enjoyed uninterrupted rule of the island until 2000
when they lost to the pro-independence Democratic Progressive
Party.

“The KMT is still a party that emphasizes traditional
legitimacy and seniority,” said Li Hsi-kun, who teaches
political science at National Taiwan University.

“The new chairman will be in an advantageous position to
claim the presidential candidacy.”

KMT leaders are traditionally the party’s standard bearers
for presidential elections. Incumbent chairman Lien Chan ran
for office in 2000 and 2004, losing both times to Chen
Shui-bian of the DPP. He has since decided to stand down.

The KMT only introduced direct chairmanship elections after
losing its grip on the presidency in 2000. Saturday will be the
first time rank-and-file members have faced a choice.

“The KMT is like a big, old ship. When it tries to make a
turn, it can’t turn sharply like other ships,” Li said.

“LITTLE BROTHER”

On the all-important issue of how Taipei should deal with
China, which views democratic Taiwan as a renegade province, Ma
and Wang have both ruled out independence and pledged to follow
the footsteps of Lien, who shook hands with Chinese President
Hu Jintao on his visit to Beijing.

“It looks like Ma has a better chance of winning. Many of
Ma’s supporters want him to run for the president in 2008. Ma
appears to be their only hope,” said Emile Sheng, a political
scientist at Soochow University.

With handsome, squeaky-clean looks and a Harvard law
degree, the 55-year-old mayor enjoys high popularity in the
northern capital of Taipei. Dubbed “Little Brother Ma” by his
supporters, many see the mayor as the opposition’s best, and
perhaps only, hope of wresting power back from the DPP.

“Choose a right chairman in 2005, than the KMT will
definitely win in 2008,” read one of Ma’s campaign ads.

But critics say Ma lacks backing in rural areas, especially
in the island’s south, where support for an independent Taiwan
identity runs high. Ma is also relatively junior in a party
filled with elders like Wang, who is 64.

Ma, whose mother tongue is Mandarin, speaks fluent English.
He speaks the local Taiwanese dialect with a heavy accent.

Wang, on the other hand, enjoys a strong following in the
south and carries significant political clout as head of
parliament, the Legislative Yuan.

“We are not voting for the leading actor of a soap opera,
we are voting for a chairman who can unite the (opposition)
camp,” Ju Gau-jeng, one of Wang’s supporters, wrote in a open
letter.

“The KMT should learn from its painful lessons in the past.
It should nominate Taiwanese as candidates for the president
and vice president in 2008 in order to win.”