Kuomintang

It is generally believed that the creation of the Kuomintang will somewhat straighten out the political tangle in China caused by the multitude of parties. The Kuomintang holds itself out as the democratic party, and its support of the President will be tempered by the path his future actions take.

The trend of events from the founding of the Republic to the unseating of the Kuomintang members of the National Assembly in November, 1913, however, confirmed the belief held in many quarters that republicanism was not a suitable system of government for the Chinese in their present stage of political development.

U Nu's government was Socialist with a program of nationalization. But it had to fight for survival against almost universal disorder complicated by a Communist rebellion, a Karen rising, which was far more serious, and, in 1950, the arrival from Yünnan of General Li Mi's Kuomintang division after its rout by the Chinese Communists.

He drew lists of Party cadre members of both before and after forty-nine, and pored over the scant details of those entrusted with the takeover of big enterprises where technological know-how was required: in particular the Kiangnan shipyard, a massive affair from which the Kuomintang elements had repeatedly to be purged.

The Kuomintang Party, after capturing 62 of the 71 seats in the Dec. 3 legislative elections, has retained control of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, the bastion of recovery, that it has held for the past 30 years.

By 1927, these gangs had come to play a cardinal political role, serving as agents of the Kuomintang in dealing with unions, radicals, and other opponents of the regime.

If we say that the Communist Parties in West European countries are tainted with some undesirable traditions of the social-democratic parties, the Chinese Communist Party is more or less tainted with the undesirable traditions of the Kuomintang. The concept of “ruling the country by the party”, held by some comrades, is a manifestation in our Party of an abominable tradition of the Kuomintang.

Next door, you can't miss the Fushan Illuminated Wall, a huge sign with red Chinese characters on a white background declaring: "Sleep with one's sword ready." Its purpose was to brace the islands' Kuomintang troops and to warn off the Communist troops always watching from just across the waters.

In February, the newly elected mayor of Taipei, Chiang Wan-an, welcomed a delegation from the Shanghai branch of the Taiwan Affairs Office. Andrew Hsia, a Kuomintang vice chairman, went to China and met with Wang Huning and Song Tao, two key figures in Beijing’s Taiwan strategy.