KMT chairman latest to quit his post
Print Edition
TAIWAN leader Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that he was stepping down as chairman of the Kuomintang in a widely expected move following the party’s trouncing in in local elections on the weekend.
Ma’s resignation reflects the crisis that has gripped the KMT, which lost key cities in northern and central Taiwan in the polls, despite pushing policies that ushered in deeper economic ties with China’s mainland.
Ma’s resignation from the post he has held since 2009 does not affect his position as the island’s leader. He is serving his second, and final, four-year term, which ends in 2016.
“As the chairman, Ying-jeou is willing to take the biggest responsibility,” Ma said in a statement issued by the KMT, referring to himself. He will formally resign during a KMT central committee meeting today.
“Over the last 120 years, the Kuomintang has encountered countless failures, but has never been categorically defeated and each time we pick ourselves back up again,” Ma said in the statement. “Let us take today’s loss and turn it into a new victorious beginning.”
Ma reiterated his apology for “letting everyone down” and urged the party to remain calm and stand united at this difficult time.
“We lost an election but we can’t lose the people’s trust in the KMT. We will decide if the KMT will be defeated or not. We will never be defeated if we can reflect and reform. We will humbly listen to the people’s voices and we will bravely shoulder the responsiblities in the future.”
Li-Keng Kuei-fong, a member of KMT’s central committee, said: “This is the worst crisis for the KMT since we fled to Taiwan.”
Since 2008, when Ma came to power, economic ties between Taiwan and the mainland have flourished with the signing of 21 trade, transit and investment agreements. However, in March, thousands of protesters, blocked the ratification of a cross-strait trade services agreement in an unprecedented sit-in in the island’s legislature building over fears of two much reliance on the mainland.
The central government’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which handles Taiwan matters, said in a statement that cross-strait, peaceful development was the “mainstream public opinion” for “compatriots” on both sides.
The KMT lost its hold on Taipei for the first time in 16 years when an independent candidate, backed by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, won the vote for mayor.
Within days, two vice chairmen of the KMT resigned and on Monday, Ma’s administration formally stepped down, following Saturday’s resignation of Ma’s chief adminstrator, Jiang Yi-huah.
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