《TAIPEI TIMES》 KMT to set up reform committee

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party’s （KMT） Central Standing Committee yesterday passed a decision to establish a committee tasked with drafting reform proposals for the party.

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The new committee would consist of Central Standing Committee members, KMT mayors, county commissioners, legislators and local councilors, as well as party members who can represent younger generations, party chairperson by-election candidates, experts and academics, the party said.

The reform committee would have four sections devoted to reforming in the party’s personnel structure, cross-strait policy, youth participation and finances, it said.

Each section is required to submit a reform proposal by the end of March, it added.

A preparatory committee headed by KMT Acting Chairman Lin Rong-te （林榮德） would handle the work to establish the reform committee, the party said, adding that Lin would also serve as the convener of the new committee until a new chairperson is elected.

The Central Standing Committee also passed a decision to ban all members who have worked in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference or the Chinese National People’s Congress from running for a seat on the Central Standing Committee or Central Committee.

Such people would be punished according to party regulations or disqualified from the chairperson by-election, the party said.

After former KMT chairman Wu Den-yih （吳敦義） and many upper management members stepped down on Wednesday last week to shoulder responsibility for the party’s defeats in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, the Central Standing Committee yesterday approved a new list of personnel.

KMT Legislator Alicia Wang （王育敏） and KMT Election Deployment Department head Huang Pi-yun （黃碧雲） have been appointed the party’s Culture and Communications Committee acting director-general and Organizational Development Committee acting director respectively, the party said.

KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chou Jih-shine （周繼祥）, Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan （邱大展） and Evaluation and Discipline Committee director Wei Ping-cheng （魏平政） would remain at their posts, it said.

Separately yesterday, KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang （江啟臣） said that he is considering joining the chairperson by-election on March 7.

“I will seriously think about what might be the best position that would allow me to contribute the most to the party,” he told reporters in Taichung.

He would make a decision by Friday next week, the last day for prospective candidates to pick up a registration form, he said.

Former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu （朱立倫） also hinted at a possible chairmanship bid.

He would use the Lunar New Year holiday to ponder on reform efforts and the by-election, and let the public know what he thinks before the end of the holiday, he said in a written statement.

“The party’s reform is more important than its election,” he said, adding that party members must share the responsibility of moving the party forward in their respective ways.

Three people have announced a bid to run for KMT chairperson: former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌）, National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Ya-chung （張亞中） and Blue Sky Action Alliance convener Wu Chih-chang （武之璋）.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES