The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday downplayed Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei’s (周錫瑋) low approval rating, saying the situation was not as bad as the media had portrayed.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) dismissed media reports that Chou lacked popular support, emphasizing that the public “could feel the efforts Chou had made recently.”
Wu said that he had seen six or seven polls, but he did not see the one reported by the Chinese-language United Daily News or any that was similar to it.
PHOTO: CNA
Wu made the remarks in response to a report the United Daily News published yesterday that said a recent KMT poll showed Chou's approval rating 36 percentage points lower than that of former Taipei County commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The KMT would suffer a resounding defeat if the party nominated Chou to run against Su, the report said, adding that the KMT would decide whether to ditch Chou within a month.
The report said that the KMT had conducted four opinion polls between December and this month.
The polls showed that Chou’s approval rating was steadily declining, the report said, lagging behind Su’s.
The report also said that the poll indicated Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) might be the only KMT candidate who could beat Su.
Wu yesterday said that a party primary would decide the nominee.
Although the process was complicated, Wu said such a democratic mechanism must be followed.
A more convenient way might be to let the party chairman decide, but he could not do that, Wu said.
Aspirants must go through opinion polls and a party member vote. Polls count for 70 percent of the total score, while member votes make up the remaining 30 percent.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said that the media report was not true and that it had been long time since the party had conducted an opinion poll.
Wu said earlier polls were “old, incorrect, incomplete and even distorted and inflated.”
Wu said he was curious about why the newspaper cited and twisted the old numbers even though media outlets had already released new polls.
“All I can say about those numbers reported in the paper is that they are different from what I know,” he said.
When asked about the gap between Chou and Su, Wu said Su was a contender, but added that Su’s popularity might be overrated.
It was unlikely the party would exclude Chou from the race, he said, because Chou was an asset in Taipei County that the party cherished.
At a separate press conference, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) called the poll “problematic.”
KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福), who was also present, dismissed the survey as nothing but a “rumor.”
He urged fellow KMT members to stop fueling controversy.
But KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said it was impossible for anyone to manipulate a poll, adding that the party headquarters should take the result seriously.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), who has expressed interest in running for Taipei County commissioner, urged party headquarters to make public its primary regulations as soon as possible so that aspirants would know what rules to follow.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS