The nomination of a suitable candidate for the Yunlin county by-election is proving a huge headache for KMT officials, with local factional interests blocking them at every turn.
Following Sunday's surprise announcement by Taipei judge Wang Pei-chih (王培智) that he would not to accept the party nomination, KMT officials have been desperately trying to secure a candidate for the Oct. 16 by-election.
According to a KMT source, the frontrunner for the position is the deputy director-general of National Police Administration (NPA) Wang Chun (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday, Johnson Chen (
He said he had spent more than two hours with Wang on Sunday to convince him to stay in the race.
"Since Wang has now declined the nomination, we're being forced to make other arrangements," Chen said.
Chen said the party was looking for a candidate that had both the support of local factional leaders in Yunlin, and could leap straight into the by-election race.
Chen admitted that the NPA deputy director-general Wang Chun was highly recommended by party heavyweights.
Legislator Hsu Shu-po (
"Whether I support Wang Chun or not mainly depends on the KMT's sincerity," he said.
A KMT source said yesterday that it appeared the factions would allow Wang to be nominated because he is not aligned with any one faction. His appointment may be an acceptable compromise, the source said.
The KMT official said that among the five legislators from Yunlin who had showed interest in the by-election race, each one had to be struck off the list because of their alliances with individual power bases.
The DPP's director of organizational department, Jimmy Kuo (
"They would rather hand the seat to their enemy than their comrades. Because they are so frightened if they fail to keep their position, their own faction will be swallowed up," Kuo said.
The KMT official agreed, saying that factions now determined many of the party's decisions, including Sunday's selection of Wang Pei-chih.
"Among the five legislators, if Hsu had won the support of at least three of them, then we would have considered nominating him. But unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way," Chen said.
For this reason, he said, the KMT had been compelled to nominate the inexperienced Wang.
Speaking yesterday on his decision to decline the post, Wang said he had neither enough time, money, or factional support to win the by-election.
According to party insiders yesterday, it appeared Wang Chun was also considering accepting the nomination.
Officials said that Wang had initially refused a nomination last week during a meeting with KMT secretary-general John Chang (
Chen said that if Wang Chun refused again, the KMT chairman for Yunlin county, Chang Cheng-hsiung, (
A final decision is expected at the KMT's Central Standing Committee tomorrow.
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
HELPING HAND: The steering committee of the National Stabilization Fund is expected to hold a meeting to discuss how and when to utilize the fund to help buffer the sell-off The TAIEX plunged 2,065.87 points, or 9.7 percent, to close at 19,232.35 yesterday, the highest single-day percentage loss on record, as investors braced for US President Donald Trump’s tariffs after an extended holiday weekend. Amid the pessimistic atmosphere, 945 listed companies led by large-cap stocks — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Largan Precision Co (大立光) — fell by the daily maximum of 10 percent at the close, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The number of listed companies ending limit-down set a new record, the exchange said. The TAIEX plunged by daily maxiumu in just
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
RSS