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Taiwan's China-friendly KMT to select new leader

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 22:19 CDT

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."

Source: REUTERS

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