Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said she would not withdraw from the KMT chairperson race, despite calls from a group of retired public servants for her to drop out and endorse former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強).
The Association of Retired Public Servants, Teachers, Military and Police of the Republic of China has been collecting signatures for a statement titled “Saving the KMT: Chairperson Hung’s unavoidable responsibility,” local media reports said.
The statement urges Hung to give up her re-election bid in favor of running in the 2020 legislative elections. It invites all chairperson candidates to undergo a “coordination process” to decide the winner instead of by vote in May.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The association recommends that Hu be tapped for the party’s top post and calls on former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), also a chairperson candidate, to run in the 2020 presidential election.
While the association had expected the May election to foster party solidarity, it is turning out to be “unimaginably cruel,” the statement said, adding that party members are asking why the KMT has not been able to improve its poll numbers despite the poor performance of the Democratic Progressive Party government.
The association openly supported Hung during the chairperson by-election in February last year, when she ran against then-acting chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) and KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖).
The main proponents of the statement are said to include former Examination Yuan secretary-general Lin Shui-chi (林水吉), former secretary general of the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) military veterans’ branch Hu Chu-sheng (胡筑生) and former chief secretary of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee Chen Rong-yang (陳榮洋).
Hung said in a radio interview that it was not possible for her to follow the group’s wishes.
She said those calling for her to quit were a “minority” within the association, as “there have been association members telling [her] that they were upset about the statement because it was not collectively discussed.”
When asked about her cross-strait policy, Hung reiterated that she has not proposed scrapping the latter half of the “one China with different interpretations” doctrine, the KMT’s orthodox stance on cross-strait relations.
“‘One China, different interpretations’ is included in the ‘1992 consensus,’” she said.
When asked to explain why she is promoting “one China, same interpretation” if she is not against “one China, different interpretations,” Hung said she meant that “in the future, following cross-strait negotiations, both sides could walk on a path that both jointly agree to take.”
Hung said she looks forward to a civil and democratic competition and is not worried about a possible overlap between her voter base and that of former KMT legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), who earlier this week said that she has been encouraged to run and is giving it serious thought.
With her family background, Pan — along with KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), son of former premier and army general Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) — is said to have the potential to draw away votes for Hung from the Huang Fu-hsing branch.
“All candidates have some kind of voter base overlap,” Hung said.
If Pan joins the race, she would be the sixth aspirant, following Hung, Wu, Hau, former vice chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) and former Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corp president Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
‘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
RSS