The KMT will hold the first direct election for party chairman in its history today. The current chairman and sole candidate, Lien Chan (
To mobilize party members to vote, Lien sent every member a letter pledging to carry out party reform.
"The failure in the presidential election was the biggest frustration of both my career and the KMT's history," Lien said during a televised interview yesterday. "It also brought about a failure for the country [after the DPP government's first 10 months in office]."
Lien said that the nation was greatly disappointed in the DPP government, and that the DPP was governing "dogmatically" and risked "sinking all the passengers on the good ship `Taiwan.'"
"We cannot allow the DPP government, which has lost its direction, to `sink' in such a way that all the people perish together," Lien said.
He said that the KMT should reform itself as soon as possible in order to take on the responsibility of reversing Taiwan's decline.
"Now I will serve as a coordinator to unite the party which split during the presidential campaign, which was the key reason for the KMT's failure," Lien said. "I therefore appeal to all party members to take part in the party's democratic reform by voting in the election for chairman."
Lien pledged to lead the party in retaining its majority in the legislature after the year-end legislative election and to regain power by offering a new hope and vision to the nation.
He also refused to rule out the possibility of visiting China, noting that cross-strait relations had stalled and that dialogue between the two sides had been suspended for a year.
He said that he would like to visit China as long as the trip "lives up to the expectations and interests of the people of Taiwan."
Today's election for the party chairman is regarded as the first step in the KMT's reform process. But the new system has still been questioned as being democratic in name only.
"KMT headquarters' leaders designed the rules so that Lien would become the sole qualified candidate," said Tuan Hung-chun (
The rules stipulate that anyone who wants to run for the chairmanship must obtain the signatures of more than 3 percent of all party members in support of his or her bid. The party has about 950,000 members.
Lien succeeded former chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) last June and pledged to implement party reform under three principles -- downsizing the party bureaucracy, and making the party both democratic and transparent.
The KMT, which once boasted 2 million members, launched a membership re-registration drive last September in preparation for the direct election of the chairman, but less than 1 million people re-registered.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS