Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have initiated a petition to urge party chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) to run for president, while Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the party would be “left to die” if no one comes forward soon to announce their intention to run next year.
A day after it was revealed that former interior minister Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) might wade into the impasse, KMT lawmakers petitioned Chu to throw down the gauntlet to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
At the KMT caucus meeting yesterday, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) was busy circulating a petition in the meeting room to collect attendees’ signatures.
Photo: Lin Yu-shan, Taipei Times
“Chu is the only person in the party who could still possibly have a close fight with Tsai; he is the only option we have. It is also possible that he could fail to win in the end, but it all depends on how well the pan-blue camp can work together as a team,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) said it is “Chu’s responsibility as the party chairman, not his right, to run for president [on the KMT’s ticket].”
Wu said the petition has so far received strong support, with close to 40 legislators signing. That would amount to a majority in the KMT caucus, which has 64 legislative seats in total.
“I will not make public the list of the names of those who have signed the petition,” said Wu in response to concerns by some KMT lawmakers that the petition would divide the party.
“I don’t see the meaning of this petition, which will only split the party in two and feed the media with hubbub about KMT infighting between pro-Chu and pro-[Legislative Speaker] Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) factions,” KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said. “It only puts party members in a difficult position.”
KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰), who has always been considered pro-Wang, was said to have protested to Wu at the meeting, requesting Wu also place Wang and vice president Wu Deng-yih (吳敦義) on the petition for impartiality.
Hung said on Thursday — and reiterated yesterday — that the KMT would be “left to die” if the candidacy situation remains unresolved.
“If you are afraid of [taking action], then don’t even come out [to joint the race],” Hung said yesterday when told that potential candidates might be afraid to make their moves too early.
She called on those willing to fight to stand out or be more clear on where they stand, including the party chairman.
“If Chu really doesn’t want to run, he should also expound on his decision,” she said.
Wang continued to assert that he has no such plan “for the time being,” and said he would respect the party’s nomination process, which has not yet started.
Separately yesterday, Chu reiterated his promise to see out his term as mayor until 2019.
Chu said he had positioned himself as the “general manager” of the KMT team.
“The KMT is a team of lots of good players. Whoever is willing to participate in [the presidential election] will serve the interests of the party,” Chu said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS