Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), one of the two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members who registered for the party’s presidential primary, yesterday said that if she is the only contender to have passed the signature threshold, she should be allowed some time before a survey in which she is required to have at least 30 percent party support.
The KMT is to reveal tomorrow whether Hung and former minister of health Yaung Chi-liang (楊志良) have each obtained signatures from at least 15,000 registered party members.
Some political and media observers contend that Yaung might fail to reach the threshold, given the relatively small number of signatures he presented with his registration.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
KMT presidential primary rules stipulate that if there is only one registered contender, the party’s review committee has two options.
It can advise the party to immediately nominate the hopeful as the presidential candidate, or advise the party to resort to a so-called “brick-blocking” clause that would require the registered contender to secure at least 30 percent of support in a KMT poll against the opposition party’s presidential candidate.
Yaung yesterday said that he would concede defeat if he failed to qualify.
Hung said that if she were the only registered contender, the poll should not take place immediately, but next month.
“It would be unfair for me if the poll were conducted right away. I had only 5 percent support in the very beginning, and after only a month or so, the figure has come to more than 20 percent,” Hung said. “Give me more time and I might get 30 or 40 percent.”
When asked whether the “brick-blocking” clause would be activated if there were only one contender, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said such a decision would be up to the party’s review committee.
“I will not make any comment on it,” he said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
‘POOP ON STAGE’: The song, which talks about the reluctance to graduate and anxiety about a lack of job opportunities, resonated with many students’ feelings The original song Poop on Stage has been chosen as National Taiwan University’s (NTU) graduation song this year, sparking much debate regarding the song’s title and content, which describes students’ anxiety about post-graduation unemployment. The title, Shang Tai Da Bian (上台大便), is a play on words that literally means “go on stage to poop.” The first three characters, shang tai da (上台大), also mean “to attend NTU,” as “Taida” is a common abbreviation for the university. The last character, bian (便), can mean “convenient” or “then,” but is more commonly associated with defecation. The lyrics of the song describe students’ reluctance to graduate and
RSS