President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) resigned as Chinese National Party (KMT) chairman yesterday at a meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee, following the KMT’s unprecedented loss in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday.
Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who is one of the KMT’s seven vice chairpeople, became the party’s acting chairman until one is elected.
After naming Wu acting chairman, the committee made vice chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who is also legislative deputy speaker, secretary-general of the KMT.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The KMT shakeup comes four days after voters dealt the ruling party a resounding defeat on Saturday, a fact Ma addressed in his resignation speech:
“First of all, I want to thank all the voters for their performance in these democratic elections. Every ballot represents the love that citizens have for Taiwan, and the poll results have reminded us that those in power must also be humble listeners,” he told the meeting.
“The KMT met unprecedented defeat in these elections. As party chairman, I have to apologize to all the supporters that I have disappointed,” he said. “To take responsibility for this, I am here to announce my resignation as KMT chairman.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Ma bowed deeply in apology for more than 10 seconds and said that the election results show that “our [the KMT’s] reforms have not occurred fast enough to meet the public’s expectations.”
Including yesterday’s meeting, Ma has now apologized three times for the party’s thrashing. Ma apologized for the KMT’s defeat on the day of the elections, but did not announce that he would be stepping down as chairman. Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and KMT Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), on the other hand, did announce their respective resignations on that day in response to the party’s showing.
However, the next day, it was reported that Ma would resign at the meeting that the committee holds every Wednesday.
At the party’s regular closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Ma apologized again and said that the public’s expectations have outpaced the KMT’s reforms, according to a press release.
He also said that while the party had lost this time, “we firmly believe that the country’s overall approach has not been a failure, nor has the direction liberalization reform has taken.”
Former KMT legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who was part of defeated KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) campaign team, lashed out at Ma’s “reluctant resignation,” saying it was tendered “at the wrong time and with the wrong attitude.”
Chang said that Ma should have accompanied his announcement with an acknowledgement of his “false leadership,” but had instead insisted that the direction his reforms took was the correct one.
Chang also questioned why an outgoing chairman had the right to appoint the party’s acting chairman and secretary-general.
“Real reform would be to respect the institution [the party] and return power to the Central Standing Committee — the most powerful body within the party — instead of pulling strings behind the scenes,” Chang said, seeming to imply that the committee’s appointments for both roles had been made in accordance with Ma’s wishes.
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