Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Acting Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
Wu said that although former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) would like to see Wang become chairman, former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- who announced his presidential bid last month -- remains undecided.
It would be difficult for Ma's camp to accept Wang as chairman unless the legislative speaker decided not to run for president, he said.
"If Wang promises to take over the chairmanship, all the coordination problems within the party will be readily resolved," Wu said, referring to the unwillingness of either Wang or Ma to run for vice president under the other on the KMT's ticket.
Wu has previously said that he would resign as acting KMT chairman to ensure a fair competition in the by-election.
Lien admitted last Friday that he had tried to convince Wang to take the chairmanship and allow Ma to run for president, but to no avail.
"Inviting Wang to serve as the chairman was an option and he would be the perfect candidate to promote party unity. But it didn't work out that way. We regret that fact," Lien said on Friday.
"These are two different things [the chairmanship and the presidential primary]," Wang said when asked to comment on Wu's remarks.
He refused to speculate on why Wu made the comments, but said it would be unnecessary to take such an offer too seriously. He reiterated that he has his eyes on the presidency, not the KMT post.
"It's meaningless to enter the debate over whether Lien Chan wishes I was chairman so I could campaign for Ma in the presidential election -- because I have not thought of accepting the chairmanship," Wang said.
In a related development, KMT Legislator Hong Hsiu-chu (
Hung said that Lien was very worried about the turmoil in the party and the former chairman hoped all KMT members would put the party first.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS