Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the son of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) and a fourth-generation descendant of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), on Sunday announced that he would run in the KMT’s legislative primary in Taipei’s Zhongshan (中山) and Songshan (松山) districts, pitting himself against incumbent KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇).
Chiang Wan-an’s bid for the candidacy has been described by pundits as an attempt to avenge his father’s defeat at the hands of Lo in a 2011 KMT legislative primary.
Chiang Wan-an, 37, rejected the accusation, saying that there was no animosity between his family and Lo.
Photo: Tsai Ya-hua, Taipei Times
The nation has changed since the Sunflower movement and the nine-in-one elections last year, and young people need to step forward and bolster the KMT after the party suffered its greatest defeat in last year’s elections, Chiang Wan-an said.
Chiang Wan-an, who holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, has been working as a lawyer in the US and is a partner in a Taiwanese law firm. He said that he does not have dual citizenship when reporters asked him about his nationality.
Meanwhile, the KMT’s Taipei branch said competition for the party’s legislative candidacy in Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts is heated, with eight aspirants joining the primary after incumbent KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) announced that he would not seek re-election.
Among the eight aspirants are former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) and former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀).
The party’s regulations state that where there is only one registered candidate in a constituency, the candidate would be automatically nominated for the next year’s legislative elections, but if more than two contenders vie with an incumbent lawmaker for the party’s nomination, the incumbent has to pass an assessment, win a poll by a 5 percent margin and be approved by a nomination panel to secure the candidacy.
The nomination mechanism has been criticized by KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) as lacking transparency, saying that the party is biased toward incumbents, and that it has not yet expounded on the methodology used in the assessment and poll.
“Should not incumbent legislators be held accountable [for the KMT’s rout in last year’s nine-in-one elections]? Will the public be satisfied when it sees the same old faces running the legislature again?” Lee said.
Lee said he declined to sign up for the primary as a protest against the party’s policy.
The list of members wishing to take part in the primaries was submitted to KMT headquarters yesterday, the Taipei branch said.
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS