Former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday implied that he might not run in the by-election for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson.
Chu made the statement on Facebook yesterday morning, beginning the post by saying: “Making Taiwan better is the KMT’s responsibility. The party’s transformation will include me, but the by-election does not need to include me.”
The statement came after recent speculation on whether he would run for KMT chairman again, after former chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and the KMT’s top-ranking party members resigned on Jan. 15 to take responsibility for the party’s defeat in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections.
Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Taipei Times
KMT Central Standing Committee member Lin Rong-te (林榮德) has taken over as acting chairman until a new chairperson is elected on March 7.
Chu said that the KMT must “burn its bridges” and go through a full reform to become a supporting force for Taiwan’s development.
As the party is the largest opposition party, it plays the important role of ensuring healthy competition and rational interactions in Taiwanese politics, he said.
He said he has spoken with many local government heads, lawmakers and academics, and they are all concerned about the KMT’s future.
They all believe that the party’s reform will be complex, so they must share the responsibility of doing so, he said.
The KMT’s reform must include at least five aspects: organizational restructuring; generational sustainability and building human capacity; Taiwan’s positioning and cross-strait discourse; livelihood policies; and improving its relationship with the US and other countries, Chu wrote.
He also said that he recently spoke with KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) about the party’s transformation, and that they both agreed to take on the important responsibility of reforming the party.
Hau announced his bid for KMT chairperson on Jan. 20 and Chiang did the same on Saturday last week.
A source close to Chu said that Chu would be willing to take on “responsibilities” if younger members of the party want him to run for chairperson, but if they are willing to take on the post, he would contribute to the KMT’s reformation in a different capacity.
Aside from organizational restructuring, which should be conducted by the party’s chairperson, Chu could apply his strengths to the other four reform aspects, especially in improving the KMT’s relationship with the US, other parties, as well as the younger generation, the source said.
The KMT is accepting registrations to run for chairperson on Monday and Tuesday, and plans to hold the by-election on Mar. 7.
Additional reporting by CNA
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS