Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that he was committed to doing his duty if he is “drafted” by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to run for president.
However, a party official said that a draft is unnecessary at this stage, as the KMT’s presidential primary is still in process.
Just weeks after holding a news conference at which Wang expressed an “apology” to supporters for his decision not to run in the KMT presidential primary, when asked yesterday by reporters how he would feel about being drafted into making a bid, his response seemed to indicate a change in attitude.
Photo: CNA
“As Taiwanese [we] care about the survival and development of Taiwan, and as a KMT party member, [I] would shoulder the duty with full commitment if it is the party’s decision,” he said.
As for the proposal made by some KMT lawmakers that the party’s rules on nominating legislator-at-large candidates be revised to allow Wang to remain in the legislature, Wang said he “had not heard about it.”
According to the Central News Agency, KMT Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), in response to Wang’s remarks, said there is no question of a “draft” at this stage, since the primary mechanism is in process, and the party would nominate Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), the sole runner in the primary, if she crosses the 30 percent threshold in a party poll as required by the KMT’s primary rules.
When asked how she views Wang’s sudden change of attitude, Hung yesterday said that she is glad that someone is now willing to take on the responsibility, “but do not forget that we still have to go through the [primary] mechanism; there can be a further step only when the procedure has been completed.”
The party ballot is scheduled to be conducted on Friday and Saturday, and the results are to be released on Sunday or Monday next week at the earliest, KMT officials said.
In related news, Chinese-language media reported that former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bing (郝龍斌) intends to enter the legislative race in central or southern Taiwan, where allegedly few or no candidates have thrown their hats in the ring.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said he has not verified the news with Hau, “but if it is true, it would be a good thing.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS