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| 10.03.2004 The China Post (Taiwan) James Soong responsible for KMT decline: ex-Yuan chief The China Post staff People First Party Chairman James Soong should be blamed for the Kuomintang's decline, an elder of the former ruling party claimed yesterday. Former Control Yuan head, Wang Tso-jung, said Soong's contribution to the KMT's downfall comes only next to that of former President Lee Teng-hui. He criticized Soong for resisting a proposed merger of the KMT and PFP, which many consider a necessary move for both parties to survive the strong challenge from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. In response to Soong's reported complaints that he has been tolerating humiliations trying to force the merger, Wang said the PFP chief's "true shame" is that he has collapsed the KMT. Wang said Soong now should come back to the KMT without asking for anything in return, fighting side by side with Lien for the party's survival. But a sarcastic Soong pointed out that it was the KMT elders who kicked him out of the party, and now the same group is asking him to return. He said the merger would not be possible until the KMT purged it of the pro-independence elements embracing the "Lee Teng-hui line." Likening the merger to marriage, Song said: "The Lee Teng-hui smell must first be cleaned up before (the two parties) go to bed." He said he could understand the elders' love for the KMT. But it doesn't really matter what they care about, he said. "The KMT elders care about the institution; the PFP cares about ideals," said Soong. Soong was kicked out of the KMT after mounting an independent presidential campaign in 2000, which pitched him against the KMT candidate, Lien Chan, and the DPP candidate, Chen Shui-bian. Widely popular at the time, Soong lost by a narrow margin to Chen, while Lien ended in a distant third. Soong then set up the PFP with many rebels from the KMT. Another KMT elder, former Premier Lee Huan, was less acerbic in calling on Soong to return. |
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