New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday urged people to vote to keep the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in power in next year’s presidential and legislative elections, saying it is the key to laying the foundation for the nation’s continued economic prosperity and for peace across the Taiwan Strait.
The KMT chairman said that the nine-in-one elections in November last year were a major setback for the party, but the party would not be defeated in one battle.
The KMT is capable of self-reflection, and temporary setbacks are an incentive for the party to step back into the ring, Chu told a party meeting with KMT vice chairpersons Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) as well as KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In response to media comments to: “Give us a reason why the KMT should continue to exist,” Chu said he could think of at least three reasons for its continued existence and why it should remain in power.
The KMT is trustworthy and has not used ethnic conflict to create social turmoil for its own political advantage, Chu said.
Having the KMT remain in power is the only way Taiwan can continue to prosper, with the party guiding the nation through the many economic challenges of the 21st century, he said.
The last and most severe challenge that only the KMT can resolve is its “appropriate” handling of cross-strait issues and maintaining steady development of cross-strait relations, Chu said.
Over the past eight years, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has continued to promote cross-strait conflict, endangering the peace that has been achieved over this period, Chu said.
He added that only with the KMT at the helm of the nation can there be a lasting foundation for stable development of the nation’s economy and cross-strait relations.
Chu called for party solidarity and joint support for Hung, as the party prepares for the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elctions, adding that if everyone worked together, the party would be able to prevail in both polls.
Responding to Chu’s remarks, Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said on Facebook why he thinks the KMT should be voted out as the ruling party.
The KMT has, for its own political benefit, rejected multiple proposals for reform and broken the principles of constitutional government by initiating the “September strife,” Huang said.
The “September strife” refers to the incident in 2013 in which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) accused Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of illegally trying to influence the judiciary, and tried to revoke Wang’s KMT membership and invalidate his status as a KMT legislator-at-large, which would have stripped him of his position as speaker.
Instead of the KMT’s claims of national prosperity during its seven years of governance, wages have regressed, the rich-and-poor divide has deepened and young people have a bleak view of the future, especially with soaring real-estate prices, Huang added.
The China-leaning policies of the Ma administration has greatly hurt Taiwanese democratic values and repressed human rights, as well as sacrificed Taiwan’s development, Huang said.
There are multiple reasons that the KMT should not be allowed to continue as the ruling party and even more reasons to diminish the party’s influence in the Legislative Yuan by not allowing it to gain a majority, Huang 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 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