Press Release: The Meeting of the Presidium of the 17th KMT Central Adivisory Committee

KMT Press Release
June 21, 2007

The first meeting of the Presidium of the 17th KMT Central Advisory Committee was held this morning at the KMT Party Headquarters. In his remarks, Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung stressed that the KMT had faced many challenges and setbacks since the KMT was founded 113 years ago and was currently facing a dire threat to its survival. Wu urged that the whole party should unite to turn the situation around and fulfill the KMT’s mission of safeguarding the R.O.C. Only in this way will the KMT be able to bring about new hope for Taiwan, he said.

Chairman Wu said the toughest challenges now facing the KMT are the upcoming legislative and presidential elections. Seats in the Legislative Yuan have been reduced by half. Currently, following an arduous process of coordination, candidates in all but 5 out of 73 legislative constituencies have been decided. As for the at-large legislators, the formal process for deciding candidates will commence in August or September.
Regarding the presidential election, Wu said that although the KMT had formally recommended Dr. Ma Ying-jeou for presidential candidate, the whole process needed to be confirmed by the National Congress. Ma will formally declare who his running mate will be to party delegates during the National Congress on June 24th, and the party will honor Mr. Ma’s choice, Wu said.
The DPP is resorting to every dirty trick in the book to maneuver the election campaign toward its advantage, according to Wu. “No one wants to see a repetition of the Bulletgate, which changed the result of the presidential election overnight, or the so-called “walking fee” (a small sum of per diem given to voters) controversy,” Wu said, “We want a clean battle, but we expect the opposition to resort to every dirty trick in the book. We will not sit and watch as the DPP wreaks havoc on our campaign. We must make sure we are ready for whatever comes in our way.”
For the KMT, the 2008 presidential election is a battle for survival, noted Wu, “We are fighting with our backs against the wall. It is going to be bloody. Neither side will be able to beat the other by a large margin. Every vote will be crucial. We are going all out to win the election.”
Chairman Wu said the KMT would full-heartedly defend the Republic of China in Taiwan. The first thing we must do is to win the elections, with “Taiwan First, People’s Interest a Priority” in mind. To develop a peaceful, win-win relationship with Mainland China is purely for Taiwan’s security and interests. Chairman Wu said we believed that the KMT would win over the trust and recognition of the people if we continue to work towards this goal.
In his remarks, KMT secretary-general Wu Den-yi said that both economic stagnation and widespread corruption at high levels of the government have been common under the DPP administration. A popular saying used to be “Vote for A-bian (Chen Shui-bian) even if you are starving,” but now it has been changed to “Vote for Ma Ying-jeou because we have been starving for too long.” The gap between rich and poor has widened, and the people are yearning for good governance. If the KMT can get in step with people’s want, we will be able to win a return to power. Back in power, we will be able to carry out the strategy of “Expanding Taiwan’s Presence in the Asia-Pacific region and the Globe.”
Wu Den-yi also outlined how party assets should be disposed of in the future. “As party chairmen, both Dr. Lien Chan and Dr. Ma continued to deal with party assets and succeeded in returning or donating to the state what should have been…all that is left to be dealt with are the assets of the Central Investment Corporation. Following Ma’s promise, this will be done before June 30,” Wu said. He went on by explaining that although the DPP government had obstructed the work of the KMT Administration and Management Committee, which is responsible for dealing with party assets, the KMT would overcome all difficulties and successfully put all remaining party assets into a trust before June 30.
Wu said that in future the KMT would no longer run any businesses. All party assets will be put in a trust with reliable institutions and any returns from the trust will be used to “ensure that the rights of party workers and retired party workers are not undermined,” he added.

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