20,000 besiege KMT headquarters

The future course of the Kuomintang was in doubt as more than 20,000 angry voters massed outside its headquarters in Taipei last night demanding that outgoing President Lee Teng-hui resign immediately as party chairman. The protesters were still confronting hundreds of police late last night as a growing sector of Taiwan society wanted Mr Lee to take responsibility for the election defeat on Saturday of one of the world's oldest and richest parties. At a late afternoon extraordinary session of the party's central standing committee, Mr Lee offered to resign with other top cadres at a special KMT conference in September. However, this failed to appease the crowd, which vowed to be back 'every morning' until the 77-year-old leader stepped down immediately and made a full apology to the nation. As the limousines of about 30 central standing committee members approached the driveway of the headquarters, police used shields to charge at protesters and sprayed water cannon to disperse them. At least a dozen protesters, police and KMT officials suffered minor injuries. The demonstrators, mostly followers of defeated candidate James Soong Chu-yu, accused Mr Lee of kicking him out of the party, and forcing the popular former KMT secretary-general to run as an independent. Mr Soong lost to the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) Chen Shui-bian by less than three percentage points. KMT supporters in the crowd alleged that instead of fully supporting the official candidate, Vice-President Lien Chan, Mr Lee secretly gave his backing to Mr Chen, often dubbed Mr Lee's 'godson'. As the central standing committee meeting was held, the protesters shouted: 'One million Taiwan people have stood up; Lee Teng-hui should quit right now.' They hoisted anti-Lee banners but waved Taiwan and the KMT flags to proclaim their loyalty to Taiwan and the party. By evening, the atmosphere had cooled slightly as police retreated behind the building's gates and the activists held an anti-Lee mass meeting in the square outside. Legislators, KMT members and Soong backers seized the microphone to denounce Mr Lee. Hundreds of police set up barricades outside Mr Lee's residence just several streets from the KMT headquarters. KMT sources said the leadership would do all it could to convince the masses of its determination to reform. Mr Lien, who offered to resign from the party vice-chairmanship, called upon supporters 'not to lose their ideals'. 'We must never fall by the wayside,' he said. 'We must make a new departure tomorrow.' Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou resigned from his position as a standing committee member. At 10pm the charismatic mayor, who defeated Mr Chen in the mayoral election in late 1998, met the protesters outside KMT headquarters. 'I fully understand your feelings when you ask chairman Lee to resign,' he said. 'I will relate your message to him and ask him to seriously consider your request.' He tried to persuade the protesters to disperse and discussed reforming the KMT with them. The mayor said the future chairman must be elected into office by all members. 'Party reform and democracy must not be just a party slogan. That will only be possible if the chairman is elected directly by party members,' Mr Ma said. Meanwhile, Mr Soong indicated yesterday he had acceded to the demands of his supporters to form a new party. Sources said it would be called the New Taiwanese Party of Service or the New Taiwanese Party. 'We'll bring together people with strong beliefs to reform Taiwan politics,' Mr Soong said. A Soong adviser said senior members of the new organisation would consist of former KMT cadres, and the new party would field candidates for National Assembly polls to be held in two months. Chiou I-jen, a senior strategist with the DPP, said Taiwan politics would soon have a three-party structure. 'Even though the KMT still has a majority in the legislature, it will soon become the smallest of the three because of the exodus of the best members,' he said. Mr Chen, who spent yesterday thanking voters, appealed to the public to stay calm and use rational methods to reach their ideals. He said President Lee deserved Taiwan's respect and his dignity must be safeguarded. DPP leaders declared yesterday there would be a strict separation of party and government in Taiwan. The DPP had no intention of interfering in Mr Chen's administration, they insisted. 'Like parties in the United States, the DPP will mostly be responsible for helping candidates run elections,' a DPP whip said.