Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The primary would never be a fair competition as the rules of the game were tailor-made for someone from the very beginning ? I will not be claiming a registration form for the party primary," Wang told a press conference.
The KMT's presidential primary campaign officially starts today and candidates must register before Thursday.
PHOTO: CNA
Wang issued a strong statement slamming the party's primary process, although he once again remained tight-lipped about his own presidential ambitions.
Wang said that three factors would influence the KMT's failure or success in the next presidential election -- the ethnicity issue, the matter of the party's stolen assets and the lawsuit against former chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (
"There have been discussions at home and abroad, as well as in public and in academia, about the appropriateness of the political elite of a minority ethnic group governing a majority ethnic group. The party has to think about this seriously," Wang said.
While Wang didn't elaborate, it is believed he was questioning Ma's suitability because of his Mainlander origins.
Meanwhile, Wang urged the party to return its stolen assets to the public, an argument which runs counter to Ma handling of the issue.
KMT records show that since August 2005 under Ma's chairmanship, the party sold five assets -- its Policy Research and Development Department, three media outlets and its former headquarters -- for a total of NT$11.4 billion (US$340 million).
Wang also called on the party to consider how to deal with the many unknowns that may arise during the litigation process of Ma's lawsuit.
"Ma is going to register for the primary in the next two days, and he is to appear in court for a hearing [today] ? The party needs a crisis-management mechanism to make sure it will not lose its candidate and not be absent from the presidential election," Wang said.
In the 2000 presidential election now People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Asked to comment on Wang's remarks, KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (
KMT Organization and Development Committee Director Liao Fung-te (廖風德) told reporters in a telephone interview that Wang's blaming the party's primary mechanism was unreasonable because the mechanism had been in effect since 2000, when Wang was still a KMT vice chairman.
Liao said Wang blamed the mechanism because "he knew very well" he would not stand a chance against Ma in the party's presidential primary.
"This only shows that the legislative speaker cannot stand to lose," he said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS