KMT infighting + LOLz + Links

The yums...

I wish Annette Lu would seek a quiet retirement, someplace far from any communications apparatus. The Taipei Times ran a report of her latest zany accusations and the brilliant, far-reaching plan of the CCP....

Lu yesterday cited exiled Chinese academic Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰) as saying that Beijing might have plotted the assassination to polarize Taiwan as part of its scheme to annex the nation.

According to Yuan, former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) asked Xin Qi (辛旗), a Chinese People’s Liberation Army major general actively involved in civilian exchanges with Taiwanese academics and politicians in his capacity as Chinese Culture Promotion Society deputy director, to plot the shooting without killing Chen Shui-bian or Lu.

The shooting was aimed at damaging Taiwan’s democracy and making Taiwanese believe that elections were rigged, but it had to see Chen Shui-bian and Lu re-elected so that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), losing power and authority, would be willing to succumb to China, Lu said.

You can see what a brilliant plan that was, because the KMT folded like a house of cards and never again recaptured the Presidency or the legislature. KMT Chairmanship candidate Steve Chan was forced to deny that he had any role in the assassination attempt -- he treated Chen Shui-bian's wounds, so it was difficult for him to deny that they were actual wounds. But he managed...

The KMT continued to hack and cut at itself as former President Ma, himself an ideologue of no little rigidity, attacked the ideologues to his right within the Party. The Taipei Times reported:

“However, there are some party comrades that have been ranting at their own brethren; there are even reports alleging that certain party members plan to launch a political vendetta against me, accusing me of being to blame for devastating the party and the nation,” Ma said.

One of the “comrades” Ma was referring to is understood to be KMT Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元), who has been involved in a series of heated spats and exchanges with Ma’s office, the most recent regarding Ma’s acknowledgment that Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) should be held accountable for the 228 Incident.

Tsai responded that then-Taiwan governor Chen Yi (陳儀), who ordered police and military action against protesters, was less corrupt than Ma.

Ma more corrupt than Chen Yi! That's brilliant. You can see that Ma is almost moderate compared to Alex Tsai, who upholds the entire KMT catechism, including the leader cult idea that Chiang did not order 2-28. It's not for nothing that there is a wing of nutters in the KMT that argues Ma is quietly pro-independence.

One of the polling organizations polled nearly 700 of the KMT's 1600 representatives to see who would win the Chairmanship election....

[Former vice president Wu Den-yih] led the other five in all six areas in the poll: political experience (55 percent of respondents), capability of uniting the KMT (48 percent), capability of leading the KMT back to power (48 percent), leadership competency (53 percent), chance of winning the election (43 percent) and support rate (45 percent).

KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) placed second in all six categories, but her support rate was only 21 percent, while KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) came in third in every area and had a 17 percent support rate.

It's not surprising that the representatives might prefer the Taiwanese Wu to run the KMT rather than the ideologue Hung or the mainlander princeling Hau. Wu knows how to play the internal politics of the party very well, and is more pragmatic than the ideologues running things at the moment. But the vote will be decided by the Old Soldiers, and I have not seen a poll on them.

Go Hung!
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Daily Links:

• Commonwealth: The politics of fish in Taiwan, #4 fish consuming nation on earth
• Taiwan, where Japanese go to feel at home. Brimming with errors, but its heart is in the right place.
• Randall Schriver says a 4th communique between US and China unlikely. Translation: all the noise is just noise, don't expect major changes at the April meetup between Xi and Trump. 
• 1931 Magazine article in English on Taiwan
• National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan
• New Book on the CSB years.
• The school scandal continues, with 72 schools having signed pledges for Chinese students.
• ECFA greatness: Trade between Taiwan and China stagnates.
• RTI: Taiwan's top China policymaker calls on US not to make Taiwan a bargaining chip.
• Article on one of my favorite places in Taipei, Little Burma. On Saturday afternoon, it has a completely different feel than the rest of Taipei. 
• New missiles aimed at Taiwan
• Taipei Mayor Ke to visit India
• BBC piece on China spying in Taiwan
• Penghu economy must rely on seasonal tourism.
• Event: March 30 Taichung Amcham Meeting (registration): "Taichung AmCham is honored to welcome Dr. James B. Ogundele as its March Dinner Meeting guest speaker on Thursday, 3/30. Dr. Ogundele, who arrived in Taiwan in 2005 for his work with Corning’s Manufacturing, Technology and Engineering Group, will share his informed and interesting perspectives on globalization and the possible impact of recent US policies."

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