Row over China services agreement could leave Taiwan President as lame duck in KMT split: China Times

TAIPEI – In a strongly-worded editorial, Taiwan’s China Times newspaper asserts that the recent Sunflower Student Movement against a trade-in-services agreement with China has led to an early start of President Ma Ying-jeou's lame duck status - and left the KMT in danger of breaking apart.

“Uproar over the pact can be traced back to long-running confrontations between the ruling and opposition camps in Taiwan,” the China Times says.

“Since his inauguration in 2008, Ma has been working to promote cross-Taiwan Strait peace, but has been reluctant to extend an olive branch to the Opposition parties in an open-minded and flexible manner. This has left the Legislature in a constant state of argument and infighting, with many of the Administration's policies stalled.

“In addition, there is the issue of infighting within the KMT itself. A struggle that erupted last September between Ma and Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng has split KMT legislators into two factions -- pro-Ma and pro-Wang.

“Ma's tactless attempt to bring down Wang demonstrated his underestimation of the Legislative speaker, overestimation of himself and miscalculation of the whole situation. The incident led to removal of the Justice Minister and resignation of the State Prosecutor-General, while Wang managed to retain his position as Speaker and later played a critical role in resolving the student-led protests.

“Obviously, Ma still has much to learn in terms of political skills.

“Although Ma is the country's President and Chairman of the KMT, Wang has control over the Legislature. Whether Ma can smooth the way for his Administration for the remaining two years of his term will depend on his ability to mend his rift with Wang.” (ATI).