DIVIDED WE STAND:KMT members wanting to tone down the annual China forum now that the party is in opposition have met with disapproval from former leaders

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 05, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members are divided over a proposed abolition of the party’s annual forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has taken place since former KMT chairman Lien Chan’s (連戰) “journey of peace” visit to China in 2005.

The proposal was tabled by former KMT secretary-general Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) in a party reform proposal submitted to KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) late last month.

In the report, Lee called the annual forum — officially referred to as the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum — “political pageantry,” saying it should be replaced by the establishment of a service center for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople in Beijing.

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who nominated Lee as the party’s secretary-general after assuming the KMT chairmanship in January last year, yesterday said that the possibility of transforming the cross-strait forum had already been touched upon during last year’s forum.

“Preliminary efforts were made to transform the forum last year. We hope Hung and leaders in Beijing can make some adjustments, as different stages of cross-strait interaction have different missions and should therefore be handled in a different manner,” said Chu, who led a delegation to the 10th KMT-CCP forum in Shanghai in May last year.     [FULL  STORY]