Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members who have been members of the party for at least four months are to be allowed to run for party representatives this year, KMT headquarters announced yesterday, after a court rescinded a controversial motion passed by the Central Standing Committee last month that tried to raise the threshold to one year.
The Taipei District Court ruled that the party is required to use the election requirements passed by the committee in December last year and published in January.
The requirements stipulate that those who have joined the KMT or reinstated their party membership for four months or longer are entitled to run for party representative — a position that younger KMT members stand a greater chance of winning.
However, several committee members supporting former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) — one of the six candidates for KMT chairperson — railroaded a motion at a committee meeting last month that raised the threshold to one year.
The move was criticized by other chairperson candidates as being electorally motivated and prompted several young KMT members interested in running for party representative to take the issue to court on March 15.
Despite the criticism, Wu at the time lauded the motion as a wise decision.
He said that allowing relatively new KMT members to run for party representative would “leave things in disarray.”
Upon receiving the court ruling, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) said that KMT headquarters has instructed its branches to proceed with the representative election according to the verdict.
An alliance of young KMT members, who call themselves the “White Calla Lily Alliance,” issued a statement welcoming the ruling, saying that while their lawsuit has caused grievance among some party comrades, its only aim was to protect their rights.
“This incident has underscored the resilience of party members and the KMT’s gradual path to openness and democracy. We believe the party should attach more importance to the election system and rule of law in the future,” the alliance said.
Earlier yesterday, the KMT published notices for the elections of four party positions: chairperson and representatives on May 20, Central Committee members on July 8 and Central Standing Committee members on July 29.
According to statistics compiled by the party, a total of 451,510 KMT members have the right to vote in the May 20 elections, up from 226,783 in January.
The nearly two-fold increase was due to the recruitment of new party members, as well as some members’ decisions to either reinstate their membership or pay their overdue membership fees.
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