Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), the party’s newly chosen presidential candidate, yesterday said he planned to establish a system where no term limits were imposed on KMT lawmakers who serve as speaker of the Legislative Yuan.
Chu gave interviews to several radio stations on the first day of his three-month leave from his job as New Taipei City mayor to concentrate on his presidential bid.
One of Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) radio show host Lan Shuan’s (蘭萱) questions was about about a possible re-election bid by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who is now in his third term as a KMT legislator-at-large.
Photo: CNA
“Current KMT regulations stipulate that legislators-at-large can only serve two terms, although those who have made special contributions to the party, meet the needs of the party and have served as legislative speaker, are eligible for re-election,” Chu said.
“However, I intend to create a system where a KMT legislative speaker who is neutral and objective would not be subject to such term limits,” he added.
The KMT Central Standing Committee in October 2011 approved changes to the party’s nomination rules for legislators-at-large specifically aimed at allowing Wang to continue serving as speaker if the KMT retained its legislative majority in the 2012 elections. KMT rules had previously limited its at-large legislators to just two terms.
Wang first became speaker in 1999.
When asked for a comment on Chu’s statement, Wang said: “Let nature takes its course. Thank you.”
In an interview with Hit FM radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻), Chu promised to step down as KMT chairman if he loses the Jan. 16 election, but dismissed speculation that he might resign as New Taipei City mayor during the campaign to try to tilt the race in his favor.
“I will definitely step down as KMT chairman if I do not get elected, even if the party maintains its legislative majority,” he said.
“Resigning from the mayoral post concerns not only myself, but also hundreds of people in my administration, including the city government’s three deputy mayors, department heads and officials. All of them would have to be replaced by interim representatives designated by the central government if I made that choice,” he said.
This would put the city government on hold for three months pending a by-election, Chu said, adding he would never let the municipality’s residents be affected by such a decision.
Elaborating on his decision, announced on Monday, to take a leave of absence from the mayor’s job, Chu said that being on leave does not mean he would ignore city affairs.
“If I have the time, I would return to the city government to help handle some affairs. This would be my way of showing respect to the city residents and to the system,” Chu told Chou in the interview.
Turning to critics who have labeled him “morally bankrupt” for breaking his promises not to join next year’s presidential race and to serve out his second mayoral term, Chu said it was the harshest and most heart-wrenching criticism that a person who valued their reputation could ever receive.
“However, I will accept the criticism ... because I am doing this not for the KMT, but to give Taiwan’s next generations and its people a different choice,” Chu said.
He said that even his family was against his decision to enter the presidential race, adding that he had told his wife to “never marry a guy like him in her next life.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect