KMT Chairman and presidential candidate Eric Chu stepped down last Saturday to shoulder the responsibility of his party’s setback. That’s about a year after he took over the reins of the KMT from his predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou. Chu bowed three times in front of supporters at his campaign office and promised to engage in soul-searching.
But the party’s poor showing did not come as a surprise to political analysts and perhaps to the general public as well. Critics said the KMT has completely lost touch with voters particularly among the younger generation and that it needs to reinvent itself. Even the party’s reputation for economic competence did no help as Taiwan’s GDP grew by only 1% in 2015.
So far, four people have expressed their interest in running for KMT chairperson, including two political heavyweights: former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and former KMT Vice Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu. Though it’s too early to say the KMT is on the verge of collapse, it’s a big question mark whether they or other bigwigs have the capability to unite the party and find common values shared by all.
The KMT’s full name is Kuomintang of China or the Chinese Nationalist Party. Given that the anti-China sentiment has continued to grow in Taiwan, some have suggested that the party founded in 1912 remove the word “China” from its name. But former KMT Vice Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu disagreed, saying that it’s pointless to do so since the party’s history is closely intertwined with China.
In 1927, tensions flared between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, escalating into what became the Chinese Civil War. The Kuomintang lost Mainland China to communist forces in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan.