Sean Lien outburst widens KMT rift
Controversial remark by rising star could be used by Taiwan's enemies, says Ma Ying-jeou
A political tempest within the ruling Kuomintang over a controversial comment made by the son of a former KMT chairman shows no signs of abating and threatens to widen a rift in the party before the Taipei mayoral election in 2014.
President Ma Ying-jeou, who doubles as the current KMT chairman, has accused Sean Lien, the son of Lien Chan and a member of the KMT Central Committee, of "over-simplified comments" that could lead to the public questioning his government's efficiency.
In response, Lien said yesterday that he was less concerned about criticism targeted at him than he was about broader issues such as national and social development.
Lien, considered a rising political star among the younger generation of the KMT, set off the firestorm on Saturday after dodging a question from reporters about whether he planned to run for Taipei mayor.
Lien said that, given the poor state of the island's economy, most of the public, with the exception of scheming politicians, did not care who was elected.
"Whoever is elected will merely be the head of the Beggars' Sect," he said, using the term for a fictional martial arts sect made popular by the Hong Kong novelist Jin Yong .