Image source,KMT
The four candidates are Zhu Lilun, Jiang Qichen, Zhang Yazhong and Zhuo Boyuan. The new chairman will be elected by the Kuomintang party members on September 25.
The election for the chairman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Chinese Kuomintang, started. Last Sunday (September 4), a televised political debate conference was held in Taipei. The four candidates still focused their speeches on cross-strait discussions, the “92 Consensus.” Once again became the main axis of the Kuomintang’s cross-strait policy.
The four candidates are Zhu Lilun, Jiang Qichen, Zhang Yazhong and Zhuo Boyuan. The new chairman will be elected by the Kuomintang party members on September 25. According to KMT statistics, there are about 390,000 party members who have voting rights this year.
The current party chairman Jiang Qichen advocated at the debate that the “authentic” “92 consensus, one China, each table” as the cornerstone, said that it can “put cross-strait relations back on track.” Although, when Jiang Qichen took over as the leader of the party two years ago, he proposed a strategy of considering shelving the “92 Consensus”, which triggered a group of KMT leaders to attack.
Another candidate and former party chairman Zhu Lilun also mentioned that cross-strait relations are “the top priority”. The KMT should immediately restore the cross-strait exchange platform, use social forces to play down politics, gradually accumulate goodwill, and form the basis for governance. The former chairman of the Kuomintang, Hong Xiuzhu, and Taiwan’s “unification” scholar Zhang Yazhong said that a “peace memorandum” has been drawn up. “War” competition.
According to this, Professor Zhang Junhao from the Department of Political Science of Tunghai University in Taiwan analyzed to the BBC Chinese that the difficulty the Kuomintang faces now is that there will be more challenges after the election of a new party chairman. He said that the whole debate will come down because it is an election within the party, which is mainly to shout to the stratosphere within the party, so there are not many new discussions.
However, Zhang Junhao observed that although the stalemate between the two sides of the strait made Zhu Lilun mention that it should be less “political” and that it could be resolved by “non-political contact” with Beijing, this is a new strategy for cross-strait exchanges, but Zhang Junhao said that as far as Beijing is concerned All its interactions with Taiwan are based on “political nature”. Therefore, he believes that it is impossible for the Kuomintang to avoid the political premise to interact with Beijing.
“92 Consensus”
According to reports from all walks of life, the focus of the entire debate is still on cross-strait issues. Zhu Lilun and Jiang Qichen, who are considered to have the greatest chance of winning, once again brought the “92 Consensus” to the table, hoping to gain support.
Image source,CNA
According to the analysis of scholars, “Han fans” are still mainly KMT supporters.
Jiang Qichen emphasized that a competent party chairman “should lead the party in the right way and do the right thing. He advocated that based on the Constitution of the Republic of China, based on the ’92 Consensus’, we should continue the five visions of the Lien Hu Society, promote the ice breaking of the two sides of the strait, and insist on The former president’s “pro-US and continental” route has stopped the crisis and avoided war.”
Jiang Qichen added: “The Republic of China should not become a pawn in the confrontation between the United States and the CCP, and put the Taiwan Strait in danger.”
However, Zhu Lilun said that the Kuomintang is now in opposition, and what it can do now is to promote cross-strait peace and “restore communication channels and platforms. The provisions of the Kuomintang constitution and party program should not only continue but also be deepened, including the “92 Consensus, the First China Consensus”. The spirit of “Biao” is to seek common ground while reserving differences. This is not enough. I hope that in the future, we will seek common ground and respect differences.”
At present, Zhu Lilun has received public support from Lien Chan, the former chairman of the Kuomintang and his son Lian Shengwen. Jiang Qichen is believed to have the support of former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou.
In any case, the Kuomintang still uses the “1992 consensus, one China, each table” as its signboard, hoping to attract support from all walks of life. Among them, Ma Ying-jeou, the biggest promoter of the “92 Consensus”, mentioned again in the Kuomintang youth camp in July this year that the climax of cross-strait exchanges was the meeting between him and Xi Jinping in Singapore in December 2015.
Ma Ying-jeou quoted an editorial from The Economist’s magazine that year that “Ma Xihui is the biggest concession made by the CCP on Taiwan’s sovereignty since 1980.” He believes that this means that the CCP “does not deny that the Republic of China is a sovereign country.” , But it is impossible for the CCP to recognize it. Therefore, Taiwan must have the “92 Consensus”: “The 1992 Consensus, one China and each table is mutual trust.”
Image source,CNS
On January 13, 2019, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China, said that he adheres to the basic policy of “peaceful reunification and one country, two systems” and said that “this is the best way to achieve national reunification, and it reflects the care and care for the vast number of Taiwan compatriots. And considerate.”
However, Ma Ying-jeou also urged Beijing that if the “92 Consensus” is to be Dinghai Shenzhen, it must be a complete “92 Consensus” that includes “one China and each table.”
However, William A. Stanton, the former director of the American Association in Taiwan (AIT), emphasized in an interview with the BBC Chinese that if the KMT hopes to return to the time when Ma Ying-jeou was in power, the conflict between the United States and China has not yet been staged, and Taiwan can learn from both sides. No crime, even a role that benefits from both sides is impossible.
He believes that if the Kuomintang continues to use the “92 Consensus” as its core program, it will be difficult to attract the majority of Taiwanese voters: “Beijing has changed the rules of the game in recent years. In the Hong Kong demonstrations in 2019,’one country, two systems’ has been buried. From the perspective of Beijing’s global strategy, it is impossible to accept that any ruling party in Taiwan is too close to the United States… If the Kuomintang hopes to be able to make ends meet between the United States and China, it is just a matter of luck.”
Zhang Junhao also agrees that since Xi Jinping published the “One Country, Two Systems, Taiwan Plan” at the 40th Anniversary of “A Letter to Compatriots in Taiwan” in January 2019, the “92 Consensus, One China, Each Table” is no longer Beijing. The basis for handling the Taiwan issue. Zhang Junhao emphasized that if the Kuomintang continues to use the “92 Consensus” as the party’s cross-strait discourse, it will not only become farther and farther away from Taiwan’s public opinion, but also farther and farther away from the platform for dialogue with Beijing.
Get support from young people?
In fact, according to real-time online polls at the debate, Zhang Yazhong, who has a clear stand, embraces a unified line, and is supported by Han Fan, a supporter of Han Yu Yu, unexpectedly received 57% of online support, sparking discussion. Although some Taiwanese media commented that there may be many non-KMT supporters who “reversed” Zhang Yazhong, who supported the Deep Blue system, leading to an upset voting result.
According to external analysis, in any case, although the four candidates have confronted and criticized each other several times during the live television debate, the consensus is that the Kuomintang has experienced the defeat of the previous president and urgently needs to break through and find the support of young people. During the debate yesterday, the media asked the four candidates why “Taiwan young people hate the Kuomintang”, and this issue sparked discussion.
Image source,KMT
Zheng Zhaoxin, deputy chairman of the Kuomintang Literature and Biography Committee, said in response to doubts on Facebook, “Because the Kuomintang hates young people at all!”, and emphasized that “If you go back, continue to expel young people from the Kuomintang!”
Zheng Zhaoxin was once the head of news when Han Yu was the mayor of Kaohsiung. He once witnessed Han Yu sweeping the blue-collar class in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and the support of young voters in the service industry.
He therefore said, “If it is a successful group, it is important for young people to learn from their elders, but since the Kuomintang’s problems are trite, of course the veteran must learn from the pulse of the young, not forcing the young to learn from the elders before leaving. If you look back, let’s continue to expel young people from the Kuomintang far away.”
According to an interview by the Taiwanese media “Common”, a new generation of the Kuomintang said, “Nowadays, college students in Taiwan have to say that they support the Kuomintang on campus. It is even more difficult than comrades’coming out’ and disclosing their gender identity.”
Taiwan media analysis pointed out that the Kuomintang, known as the “hundred-year-old shop,” took the “1992 consensus, one China, each table” as the main campaign axis. At the moment when cross-strait relations are tight, it must win the support of the middle voters and even the younger generation. In any case, it will be very difficult, but it is the key to the future survival of the party.