Economist on the Ma Indictment

Thanks to whoever sent me this link to the Economist Intelligencer on the Ma indictment. If you've been reading my blog, you already know everything in it. The focus of the article is a possible split in the KMT:

Although the Economist Intelligence Unit does not expect a split in the KMT as a result of Mr Ma's resignation, the possibility cannot be ruled out. Mr Ma won the position of KMT chairman in July 2005 on the back of grassroots support and with 72% of the vote. But this high level of support is deceptive, as only 50% of the KMT's 1m membership voted. Over one-half of the members of the party's core power structure, the Central Standing Committee, and a majority of the KMT's legislators voted for his opponent, the speaker of the Legislative Yuan (parliament), Wang Jin-pyng. Mr Wang remains a popular and respected figure within the party, and could yet provide a focus for the anti-Ma camp.

It's good to see a major media piece that really has the splits in the KMT down. The Economist presents it with an eye toward attracting the reader -- the split already exists and has for quite some time, but it is not the kind of rift that will lead to a formal split, but rather, manifests itself as the KMT's ongoing struggle with its own identity and direction now that the Chiang family no longer holds sway, and it is the party of a colonial elite that no longer has a country to call its own.

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