Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday emerged as the only candidate qualified to run in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary after obtaining the necessary number of signatures from KMT members.
A screening committee announced that Hung had obtained 35,210 valid endorsements from registered members, surpassing the 15,000 threshold.
Former Department of Health minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), the only other person to file registration papers, obtained only 5,234 valid signatures, failing to meet the requirement, the committee said.
Photo: CNA
Hung had submitted more than 60,000 signatures and Yaung more than 30,000, but many of them were disqualified for various reasons, the committee said.
According to the KMT’s primary regulations, Hung must next face a public opinion poll, and would be required to garner the support of at least 30 percent of respondents.
The KMT has yet to decide how to conduct the poll, but one of the likely options is to ask respondents to choose between Hung and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Should Hung fall short of the 30 percent threshold, the party might opt to draft another candidate to run.
While KMT Nomination and Review Committee convener Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the method and timing of the poll required further discussion, Hung urged the party to hurry, as the earlier the KMT knows in which direction it is heading, the more time it has to prepare its candidate.
Hung said that she believed she would ultimately be the party’s choice, adding that she would “take the responsibility, work hard and win [the election.]”
Meanwhile, Yaung announced that he was dropping his bid.
He said he wished Hung the best and hoped she exceeded the 30 percent threshold, adding that he would not consider running for a legislator or legislator-at-large post in the January elections.
In response to concern that the KMT would lack a strong vice presidential candidate, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the party’s core interests were the same as Yaung’s — “distributive justice” — adding that the party’s nomination would adhere to its internal policies.
The only KMT members who appear to be somewhat competitive with Tsai in opinion polls — Chu and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) — have said they would not enter the presidential race.
The KMT is the underdog heading into the January elections, hurt by its disastrous showing in the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year and the dismal approval ratings for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, which have dropped to about 20 percent.
Additional reporting by Lee Ya-wen and Chiu Yen-ling
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS