KMT’s Chiang says he is ‘Taiwanese and Chinese’

DUAL IDENTITY: The newly elected KMT chairman said that he was born and raised in Taiwan, but from a cultural and historical viewpoint, he is also Chinese

By Lin Liang-sheng / Staff reporter





Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) on Tuesday said that he is “both Taiwanese and Chinese” at a meeting with former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).

The KMT is the Republic of China’s (ROC) founding party, Chiang said, adding that for the KMT, China is the ROC.

“I was born and raised in Taiwan. I am Taiwanese,” he said. “From the perspective of blood origin, culture and history, I am also Chinese.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang, left, greets people with a traditional palm-over-fist gesture at a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

“On the basis of the Constitution of the ROC, I am an ROC national,” he added.

Chiang and Hung reached a consensus during their discussion that the ROC Constitution is the basis for the nation’s standing in cross-strait relations, and that it should be a bipartisan consensus, Hung’s office said.

If that is to be changed, the Constitution would have to be amended, the office said, adding that political parties and politicians have a duty to explain the consequences and costs of amending the Constitution.

Like Hung, Chiang was elected after the KMT’s defeat in a presidential election, the office said, adding that the two understand the hardships that come with the position.

They understand that the party cannot appeal to young people just by recruiting a few of them, it said.

The two believe that young people have a negative opinion of the KMT mainly because of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) labeling of it, the office said.

While the influence of ideology is not the main reason young people dislike the KMT, the distortion of historical facts by school curriculum guidelines cannot be ignored, it said.

The ROC Constitution is a “one China” Constitution, Hung said.

The national direction set by the Constitution is ultimate unification, she said.

“These directions are challenges the chairperson of the founding party must face,” she said.

The ROC’s intrinsic territory is clearly stated in the Constitution, Chiang said, adding that as long as it has not been changed with constitutional amendments, it should be followed.

The ROC and the democratic system people cherish should be defended as preconditions for cross-strait peace and acceptance by the public, Chiang said.

In terms of identity, Chiang said he believes that the zhonghua (中華) — a term generally accepted to be approximate to “Chinese” — cultural heritage that was originally integrated into life and culture has been politicized, causing some things that did not need to be doubted to become problems stalling the nation.

Hung and Chiang have a high level of consensus in terms of their views of the importance of the KMT in the nation’s development and maintaining of the “status quo” and facing historical facts, Hung’s office said.

They hope that under the leadership of Chiang, the KMT can become a party that gives people hope and develops the nation, it added.