Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members yesterday called for reform of the soon-to-be opposition party following its landslide loss in Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
“KMT leadership must refrain from paying lip service to party reform. If the party intends to usher in reform, it should start by revising rules regarding its chairmanship election,” former KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) said on Facebook.
Yang said the KMT should allow any party member to vie for the chairmanship and significantly lower the hefty NT$2 million (US$59,140) deposit that each candidate for the position is required to pay.
Under the KMT’s charter, only party members who have served as members of the party’s Central Advisory Committee or Central Committee and have managed to obtain the endorsement of 3 percent of all party members are allowed to enter a chairmanship election.
Yang also said that at least one televised debate and policy presentation should be held for candidates.
“By reforming the party’s chairmanship election, the KMT would be able to deepen democracy within the party, expand grassroots participation and take a first step toward eradicating party bigwigs’ dominance,” Yang said.
It would also serve to measure KMT heavyweights’ willingness to introduce reform, he added.
Yang tendered his resignation as the KMT’s spokesman on Saturday after saying on Facebook the day before that Taiwanese would always be perceived as pro-independence activists in the eyes of China, regardless of how many concessions the nation makes.
On the same day, defeated KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced in his concession speech that he was to step down as party chairman to take responsibility for the KMT’s disastrous defeat in the elections.
Meanwhile, KMT Youth League Secretary-General Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) also took to Facebook to urge party leadership to undergo reform.
“Many people, including myself, have proposed reforms after Saturday’s elections, such as encouraging young people to join the KMT, making the party’s organization more horizontal and taking a more Taiwan-centric path,” Lee wrote.
However, Lee said that what he cared about most was whether party leadership is willing to divest itself of all its contentious assets, which he said have become a “political liability” for the party.
“The KMT can only call itself a party for the people when the public is willing to entrust just one dollar to the party because they believe even one dollar means something to the party and that it would maximize that money,” Lee said.
KMT International Information and Events Center director Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), who had served as Chu’s campaign spokesperson, on Saturday urged the party to take off its suit and put on straw sandals to “truly feel the temperature the people feel.”
“In order for the KMT to once again become a party worthy of voters’ trust four years from now, everyone should put aside their personal agendas and engage in rational debate on the party’s future policies and direction,” Hsu said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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