Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, the quiet man of Taiwan’s KMT

Veteran Taiwanese politician Wang Jin-pyng, regarded by the public as a softly spoken, conciliatory figure and one without enemies, has been a key rival of the island's president, Ma Ying-jeou, since 2005.

Wang, a native of Taiwan's second-largest city, Kaohsiung, in the island's south, was first elected president of the Legislative Yuan in 1999, and has held that position until now. But his position was challenged yesterday after the ruling Kuomintang announced he had been expelled from the party.

A KMT disciplinary panel's decision to revoke Wang's membership of the party, which Ma chairs, marks an escalation of the simmering rivalry between the two leading party figures.

The acrimony dates to at least 2005, when they fought for the leadership of the KMT. Wang tried to thwart Ma's ambition to run for chairman of the party, then in opposition, which in turn would open the way for an attempt at the presidency in 2008. Ma was elected chairman with 72 per cent of the vote.

During the nomination period for the 2008 presidential election, Wang, a three-time Legislative Yuan Speaker, expressed his interest in running for the presidency.

However, Wang finally deferred to Ma and announced publicly that he would not contest the election. The move was seen as a display of loyalty to the KMT to prevent a repeat of the party split in 1999, when veteran KMT politician James Soong Chu-yu unsuccessfully sought the presidency against colleague Lien Chan - a move that also cost Soong his party membership.

Ma was elected president in 2008, and again in 2012. The island's media have reported that Ma was displeased with Wang's recent hesitation to push a series of bills through the Legislative Yuan, including ones that dealt with a referendum on a nuclear power plant and a cross-strait services trade agreement.