Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday pledged to hold a fair and just KMT chairperson election, urging party members to subject the next race to the most stringent scrutiny.
Hung, who is on a seven-day visit to the US as part of her efforts to raise funds for the cash-strapped KMT, made the remarks during a forum with Taiwanese expats in San Francisco on Saturday.
“We must hold this [KMT chairperson] election in the most fair, just and open manner possible. Hopefully through this race, we could create an electoral culture of sportsmanship and fair play within the party,” Hung said.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
Hung said she hoped that each candidate running for the party’s leadership in the May 20 race could clearly demonstrate their ideals and cross-strait policy direction, allowing party members to make the best judgements possible.
As the incumbent leader of the KMT, Hung vowed to ensure fairness in the election and urged all party members to scrutinize the race under the strictest standard.
Hung’s comments came amid allegations that some of the candidates have sought to increase their chances of victory by recruiting “dummy party members.”
So far, four people have thrown their hats into the ring: Hung, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co general manager Han Kuo-yo (韓國瑜).
The KMT, as of Monday last week, had 887,861 members, of whom only 226,783 are eligible to vote in the chairperson election, KMT data showed.
Expressing gratitude for Taiwanese expats’ consistent support of the KMT even during the party’s difficult times, Hung said most of the people she had encountered in the US had expressed their support for and expectations of the party.
“Each and every comrade understands the predicament the KMT is facing right now and are willing to send coal to the party during snowy weather. I am deeply touched by their adamant support of the KMT,” Hung said.
The party has been in dire financial straits since the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, established by the Executive Yuan in August last year, began efforts to recover party assets illegally acquired by the KMT during its party-state rule.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we