Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung representative Ao Po-sheng (敖博勝) yesterday accused the party of practicing what he called “blue terror” and urged Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to withdraw as the party’s presidential candidate.
Since KMT headquarters officially nominated Han as its presidential candidate last month, it has created a rift in the party, Ao told a news conference, as he announced that he was withdrawing as a party member.
The KMT has become a “one man’s say” party, but it has not blocked out the noise that is opposed to Han’s nomination, he added.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Ao said he supports Hon Hai Precision Industry founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) and hopes Gou could replace Han as the party’s candidate in the Jan. 11 presidential election, “because Gou is the only candidate who can save the party.”
“Han’s critics within the KMT have spoken words of truth, but they have been expelled for their honest criticism,” Ao said. “Meanwhile, someone who is full of lies gets to run for president. Is there still a future for a KMT like this?”
Two recent public opinion polls showed that 37 and 43 percent of respondents hope that the KMT would replace Han as its presidential candidate, while several other surveys suggest a strong distrust and dislike for Han among KMT supporters, he said.
Their distrust of Han surpasses that for the Democratic Progressive Party in some cases, he added.
If the KMT continues to turn a blind eye to this and is determined to defend Han, it would result in “the whole party saving one person who will ruin the whole party,” he said.
Citing the KMT’s 2016 presidential election campaign, Ao said there had been many critics of the party’s original candidate, former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), whose nomination was later rescinded.
KMT headquarters did not expel any Central Standing Committee or party members then, but its current “one man’s say” approach is irrational and has alienated swing voters, Ao said.
During a KMT Central Advisory Committee meeting last month, committee member Chao Shou-po (趙守博) urged Han to quit drinking, while former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who served six months as convener for Han’s panel on cross-strait affairs, on Tuesday told reporters that Han “has a mistress, binge drinks and goes to nightclubs.”
There has been speculation that Han had understated the political donations he received for his mayoral election campaign, and more doubts are bound to arise, Ao said.
If KMT headquarters moves to expel anyone who doubts Han, it would be just like “the emperor’s new clothes,” he added.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS