Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) yesterday echoed a call made by younger KMT members to drop the word “Chinese” from the party’s name.
Lu, who also doubles as a party Central Standing Committee member, said on Facebook that the KMT could have to “scrap the whole thing and restart from nothing” in order to “rise from its ashes.”
“The KMT has seen yet another rout in the Jan. 16 elections after a major defeat in the 2014 nine-in-one local elections. If the KMT does not undertake thorough party reforms and restructuring, and continues to play its ‘court politics,’ [last Saturday’s] avalanche-like defeat would not be the last the KMT would face,” Lu said.
The party mechanism of the 100-year-old party is out of date, failing the expectations of new politics and younger people, he said.
“Even the party name, Zhongguo Kuomintang (中國國民黨), is a contrast to what we are seeing in the society: The rise of local consciousness and the adversity against China,” he said.
“The KMT’s name is not unchangeable. From the Society for Regenerating China (興中會) in 1894, the Tungmenghui (同盟會) in 1905, the Kuomingtang in 1912, the Chunghwa Revolutionary Party in 1914 to finally the Zhongguo Kuomingtang [Chinese Nationalist Party] in 1919, the party has gone through four name changes,” Lu said.
A name change by dropping the word “Chinese” could therefore be a right move for the party to answer the calls for localization, he said.
The legislator also called for accustoming the party’s central beliefs and core values to the new era and the younger generation, streamlining the party’s internal structures, which have been the cause for the party’s “bureaucratic culture,” and reorganizing the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) faction, which has been idiosyncratic and a “sub-party” in itself that resists unified directive from the party’s center, by merging it with other party chapters.
“The party also has to establish an institutionalized system for cultivating young members, rather than bowing to the interests of certain factions or families,” Lu said.
Regarding party assets, Lu suggested transferring part of the assets to the state for establishing a “national sovereign fund” that could help Taiwanese businesspeople carry out strategic plans around the globe.
Lu did not seek re-election in the legislative election on Saturday last week, as he had lost the party primary to Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), who was defeated by Democratic Progressive Party’s Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in Hsinchu City.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS