Taiwan’s opposition KMT elects mayor as new chief

By Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist
Party, which favors closer ties with China, elected popular
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou as its new leader on Saturday,
boosting his chances of running for the presidency in 2008.

The 55-year-old Ma will replace incumbent Lien Chan, who
ended decades of hostility between the Nationalists, also known
as the Kuomingtang or KMT, and the Chinese Communist Party with
a historic trip to Beijing in April.

Like Lien, Ma has also ruled out Taiwan independence from
China, which considers the self-ruled island its own and has
threatened to attack if Taiwan pushed for formal statehood.

“When I become the chairman of the KMT, I will lay out a
comprehensive plan of reform which will enable the KMT to win
back power in the year 2008,” Ma told a news conference.

But the Harvard-educated, Hong Kong-born Ma stopped short
of saying he would run for office himself, adding that the
party can decide who it wants to be its contender at a later
date.

Ma’s opponent, Parliament Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, conceded
defeat and offered his congratulation to Ma. The mayor won 72.4
percent of votes against Wang’s 27.6 percent, with turnout of
518,324 voters from the party’s one million members.

The two-way race is unprecedented for the 110-year-old KMT,
founded by Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen.

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

“Ma Ying-jeou is not like other politicians. He is young,
clean, and reform-minded. If he doesn’t win the chairmanship,
we won’t have anyone to beat the DPP in 2008,” said 65-year-old
businessman Chu Yen-fei after casting his vote.

KMT leaders are traditionally the party’s standard bearers.
Lien ran for president in 2000 and 2004, losing both times to
Chen Shui-bian of the DPP.

“LITTLE BROTHER MA”

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

With handsome, squeaky-clean looks and a Harvard law
degree, Ma enjoys high popularity in the northern capital of
Taipei.

Dubbed “Little Brother Ma” by his supporters, many see the
former justice minister as the opposition’s best, and perhaps
only, hope of wresting power back from the DPP.

But critics say Ma is an indecisive leader and lacks strong
backing in rural areas, especially in Taiwan’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 and carries significant political clout as
head of parliament. The new chairman’s challenge will be in
gaining the party elders’ support and healing divisions caused
by the election campaign, analysts said.

“The KMT has been labeled as a mainlanders’ party. We need
to shake off that image in order to win back power,” said party
worker Ko Chung-wei, who voted for Wang.

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

President Chen issued a brief statement on the result.

“The presidential office offers its most sincere
congratulation and hopes Chairman Ma, after he takes office,
can respond positively to President Chen’s call for
reconciliation and cooperation between ruling and opposition
parties,” it said.