Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) might face at least two challengers in the party’s chairperson election in May, as former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) are expected to announce their bids at separate news conferences on Monday.
Wu, who briefly served as interim KMT chairman in December 2014 after then-party leader Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stepped down over an electoral defeat, yesterday confirmed, although ambiguously, that he is interested in vying for the KMT chairmanship.
“Despite being only an opposition party at the moment, the KMT must nevertheless do its utmost to scrutinize the ruling party to ensure that our nation can continue to improve and develop. Many of my fellow party members are looking to me to fulfill those expectations,” Wu said yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Photojournalist Society
Wu said as both the nation and the party had offered him significant assistance when he served as KMT vice chairman, premier and lawmaker, he must “shoulder a portion of the burden of responsibility” when the party is in distress.
“That is why I must give serious consideration [to joining the chairperson race]. I shall have some news for you on Monday,” Wu said.
Wu’s office later announced that the former vice president will hold a news conference at 10am on Monday to make an announcement, but did not disclose what the conference would address.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, at a public forum in Taipei yesterday, Hau said he will make an announcement once he makes up his mind, after he was asked whether he intends to run for the KMT chairmanship.
The more people join the chairmanship race the better, Hau said.
It was later rumored that Hau also plans to announce his candidacy on Monday.
When reached for verification, Hau’s office neither confirmed nor denied the rumor, saying only that more information might be released today.
The KMT’s upcoming chairperson election has been dogged by controversy since the party headquarters last month unexpectedly moved forward the race from July 20 to May 20, before passing the decision through a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee without a quorum.
Hung announced that she will run for re-election during an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily Evening News published on Sunday last week, when she said she “has an incurable sense of mission toward the KMT and cross-strait ties.”
Hung was elected party chairwoman on March 26 last year to serve the remaining term of the KMT’s sixth chairman, Ma, who won re-election on July 20, 2013, before stepping down on Dec. 3, 2014, to take political responsibility for the KMT’s defeat in the nine-in-one elections that year.
Ma was succeeded by New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Jan. 19, 2015, who resigned on Jan. 16 last year after losing the presidential race to the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
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
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would