Deep Blue reactionary Hung Hsiu-chu, the former presidential candidate, now running for Party Chairman, this week implied that the KMT helped the government financially....
However, Hung also said that the problem of the KMT’s party assets has its “historical background” and should not be treated as a crime, adding that “returning party assets to zero” is a “pseudo-issue.”"Rationally" and "objectively" are favorite rhetorical moments in the world KMTers -- such words contend that the other side is irrational. Former KMT spokesperson Yang Wei-chung, who has been in the news attacking her absurdities, pointed out in the article that the KMT had historically always drawn on the government to pay its bills.
She said that the KMT had also contributed a lot to the government, citing the amount of gold and national treasures now housed in the National Palace Museum that the party had brought from China in 1949 and asked the public to rationally examine whether it was the government that had helped the party or the party that had helped the government.
Everyone in Taiwan knows that the KMT-Party state was financed by taxpayer coffers, but that's not the point. Hung is running for KMT Chair and is doing so by appealing to Deep Blue rank and file, where she has strong support. This week I had dinner with a longtime friend inside the Hung campaign who said that (1) President Ma and all other high level KMTers support Huang Min-hui, a faction politician and Hung's Taiwanese rival for the Chairmanship (2) "if you work for Hung, everyone distances themselves from you" (3) Hung is busy running activities appealing to the rank and file, where she is strongly supported (4) the DPP does a much better job at everything right now -- "when we sit down with DPP party officials, they always know how to do things better than we do and we learn from them" (5) the KMT youth organization is run by a crony of King Pu-tsun, who is Ma's hatchet man. As a result, it produces propaganda singing the praises of the great Ma Ying-jeou and is hopeless at attracting the young (6) what we all know: the KMT has no appeal for youth (7) Wang Jin-pyng has little influence or power (in case you had any doubts).
This election is a replay of the 2005 election between mainlander ideologue Ma Ying-jeou and Taiwanese faction politician Wang Jin-pyng, in which Party elites supported Wang, and the rank and file voted for Ma. The rank and file are more conservative and ideological than the core elites of the party, and prefer candidates who share their KMT religious identity.
________________
Daily Links
- Taiwan at risk for Zika
- Hung Hsiu-chu, campaigning for KMT Chair, implies the KMT party helped the government.
- Taiwan hot springs and waterfalls map
- China poaching Taiwan tech talent. As I have been saying...
- Willy Lam explores a question that is has been on many lips: does the personality cult around Xi mean he won't step down?
- Great post from Great Blog on history of the Beimen area in Taipei, lovely pics.
- What Xi gains by threatening Taiwan: Gordon Chang at The National Interest
- The KMT is a freak of a political party
- Kharis Templeman on the great voter swing in the 2016 elections
- J Michael Cole's review of a novel about the White Terror days
- China and the inevitability of war
- The Diplomat: How Chinese analysts understand the geostrategic position of Taiwan
- DON'T MISS: Richard Kagan with fascinating insights into the election of Tsai Ing-wen
- DON'T MISS: Great discussion by Brian H at New Bloom on Taiwan independence.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
1 comment:
Back when we were first going out, my wife drove me to see the Longteng Broken Railroad Viaduct. This was sometime in 2000, long before before it became "famous", meaning there were no paved parking lots, no food vendors, no souvenir stands and, best of all, no crowds. In fact, we were the only ones there (the same went for the old train station in Shengxing). The good old days, before the implementation of the five-day workweek...
Post a Comment