國民黨任命吳敦義爲代理黨主席
Taiwan's ruling party has named a new acting chief, after the island's pro-China president Ma Ying-jeou stepped down as party chairman following a thumping defeat in local elections.
在親中國大陸的臺灣總統馬英九(Ma Ying-jeou)辭任國民黨主席一職後，國民黨已任命第一副主席吳敦義擔任代理黨主席。在此前的週末，國民黨在臺灣地方選舉遭遇慘敗。President Ma, who wanted the self-governed, democratic island to forge closer links with China - in a country deeply divided over whether to profit from extra Chinese investment or isolate itself from Beijing to safeguard its freedoms - resigned from his role as head of his Kuomintang party on Tuesday.
週二，馬英九宣佈辭去黨主席職務。一直以來，他希望自治、民主的臺灣島與中國大陸發展更緊密的聯繫。但臺灣民衆對於是要爭取更多大陸投資、還是疏遠北京方面以捍衛自身自由的問題上，存在很大分歧。
He will, however, remain president until the end of his term in 2016.
馬英九將繼續擔任總統職位，直到2016年任期屆滿。
On Wednesday, the KMT said(link in Chinese) that vice president Wu Den-yih would step up to the role of acting chairman, to replace Mr announcing his resignation as party chair, Mr Ma said in an emotional speech (Chinese) that he was "very ashamed" about the "unprecedented" local election defeat. He added that he bore the most responsibility for the situation and was deeply apologetic, saying "maybe I was not good enough".
馬英九在宣佈辭任黨主席時發表了令人動情的講話。他說，他對國民黨在地方選舉中遭到的“前所未有的”挫敗感到“慚愧”。他補充稱，他必須爲敗選負起最大責任，向大家誠懇道歉，表示“也許我做得不夠好”。The local polls, in which the KMT was heavily defeated by the pro-independence Democratic People's Party, have led to predictions that the DPP could also triumph in the 2016 presidential elections.
在此次地方選舉中，國民黨慘敗給支持臺灣獨立的民進黨(DPP)。這也導致有人預測，民進黨可能會在2016年總統大選中獲勝。That could lead to heightened tensions across the Taiwan strait, with repercussions felt across Asia and beyond if Beijing decides to flex its muscle over the island it regards as a breakaway territory.
倘若如此，可能導致臺海兩岸關係緊張加劇——如果北京方面決定對臺灣採取武力威脅，那麼整個亞洲及亞洲之外地區都將受到影響。Under Ma's KMT, China has courted Taiwan as an ally in its ongoing territorial and political disagreements with Japan. But Beijing also maintains it will invade the island should it ever push for its formal independence to be recognised.
在馬英九任內，中國大陸一直致力於對臺灣發展友好關係，將其作爲應對中日領土與政治分歧的一個盟友。但北京方面也堅稱，如果臺灣追求外界認可的正式獨立地位，那麼將對臺灣動用武力。
