Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said he still plans to run for president, adding that he would neither quit the KMT nor run as vice president.
Wang made the remarks during an interview with UFO Radio talk show host Yin Nai-jing (尹乃菁).
When asked whether he would support Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) in the KMT’s presidential primary, Wang said: “I will run [for president] to the end, although it is difficult to explain how I will do that.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
His plan is to continue interacting with society and networking, he said, adding that all the support and resources he has gathered would be used to help the party in next year’s election.
When asked for more details about how he would run for president after forgoing the KMT primary, Wang said there are still five months until candidates need to register for the election.
“Who knows what will happen before then,” he said.
He needs to prepare himself in case the party needs his help further down the road, he said, adding that he would not leave the KMT.
Asked if he would consider running as a vice president, he said he would not.
However, Wang said he would support Gou if he won the primary, but had no comment on whether he would be willing to run as his vice president.
Gou has asked him questions related to that issue, he said, adding that the Hon Hai boss has met with him three times and could visit again.
Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), a former commissioner of what was Taipei county at the time and another KMT hopeful, also met with him last week, Wang said, adding that he welcomes anyone who wants to exchange opinions.
Asked about Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit yesterday to the Legislative Yuan, Wang said that Han’s main interest was controlling dengue fever in Kaohsiung.
He advised Han to apply for a second reserve fund from the Executive Yuan to cover disease-control measures, Wang said, adding that they did not speak about election issues.
Asked whether he felt Han did not repay him for helping organize rallies in Kaohsiung before the mayoral election last year, Wang said that people should not dwell on how much they have helped others, but rather focus on how much others have done for them.
“It would of course be best if [Han] could secure Kaohsiung, because that would help the KMT win the presidential election,” Wang said
With Han running for president, there is of course some uncertainty, he added.
As Han has already entered the primary, he should work to deliver policy results and ensure stability in Kaohsiung, so that city residents could better deal with his possible departure, Wang said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS