A dozen younger prospective Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates for the Nov. 24 city and county councilor elections yesterday established a youth coalition, urging party headquarters to give young party members more visibility.
The Young Blue Power (藍色新力量) coalition was launched at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan amid renewed calls for increased youth participation, echoing similar voices after the KMT’s poor showing in the local and presidential races in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
The coalition consists of 12 aspiring KMT candidates for city and county councilor positions in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaohsiung, and Nantou, Chiayi and Taitung counties.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Noteworthy members include KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) office spokeswoman Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧), who hopes to run in Taipei’s Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts; New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) secretary Chiang I-chen (江怡臻), who is vying to stand in that city’s Tucheng (土城), Shulin (樹林), Sansia (三峽) and Yingge (鶯歌) districts; and former KMT spokesman Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦), who is vying for a seat in the city’s Yonghe District (永和).
“The KMT must stand alongside these young candidates. It should also make an effort to cultivate young talent, and encourage young people to participate in politics and contribute to Taiwan,” New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said at the event.
If elected, young candidates would remember the reasons that motivated them to run for public office and never cease to speak up for the “silent majority,” Hou said.
He also used the event to call on the public to support his election bid, as the KMT is to conduct opinion polls for New Taipei City’s mayoral primary election from today to Thursday.
KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖), who was elected Taipei city councilor at the age of 32 in 1989, said the party has not done enough to provide a podium for its talented young members to shine.
Although the event was held to announce the new coalition, it somewhat lost focus due to the presence of Hou and Chen, who on Wednesday last week won the KMT’s nomination for the Taoyuan mayoral election.
The seven coalition members who attended the event jointly expressed their support for Hou, who is competing against two other prospective candidates, including former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋).
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
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
RSS