Former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was yesterday named Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) campaign manager and vowed to “turn the tide” in favor of the KMT in the six weeks leading up to the Jan. 16 election.
Hu said it took him “five seconds” to accept Chu’s invitation to serve as chief of staff at the KMT presidential election campaign headquarters.
“This is a crucial moment for the survival of the KMT,” Hu said.
Photo: CNA
At a press conference at the KMT headquarters in Taipei, Hu promised to do his best “for what is right” and “turn the tide toward victory” for the KMT in the countdown to the Jan. 16 elections.
Hu served as foreign minister under former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and has been working as a vice chairman of Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) since he lost his bid for re-election as Taichung mayor in December last year.
Hu said that as Chu’s campaign manager, what he wants most is to achieve victory.
He said he will study how to boost the momentum of Chu’s campaign in the final weeks before the election.
At the press conference, Chu also announced other major appointments, including that of Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as head of his advisory group.
Hung was originally nominated by the KMT National Congress as its presidential candidate in July, but three months later, an extraordinary National Congress of the party passed a motion to void her nomination, and installed Chu as the party’s nominee instead on Oct. 17.
There had been rumors that the two had been at odds since, but Chu took the initiative to visit Hung at her official residence on Thursday evening — which is seen by political observers as a move to reconciliation — before yesterday’s announcement.
Also, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was named as chief of the KMT campaign’s support group.
Chu’s national campaign headquarters are to be formally inaugurated today. He has been trailing in opinion polls far behind Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Chu said he decided to name Hu as his campaign manager because Hu is very familiar with electoral matters and has participated in almost every presidential election campaign in the country.
Chu said many people who had been unlikely to support him have now decided to do so out of concern for the nation.
He urged people who are disappointed with the KMT not to despair, but rather to come out and vote.
‘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
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
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
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