Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday presented their platforms as candidates in the party’s chairperson by-election to be held on March 7.
Speaking before the presentations began at KMT headquarters in Taipei, KMT Acting Chairman Lin Rong-te (林榮德) called the by-election “the most important step in the party’s push for reform.”
“No matter which of the two of us serves as the chairman of the KMT, we will face difficult reforms,” Chiang said. “The KMT has reached an important moment when reform cannot be avoided.”
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Chiang said the party’s defeats in the 2016 and this year’s elections showed that it needs to “redesign and adjust” aspects such as its core values, policies and its nomination process.
Among the proposals he has made are the creation of an 11-member decisionmaking group within the party that would “respond quickly to public opinion”; better use of online tools to communicate with the public; and a digitization of the services the party provides to its members.
Chiang also called for a series of discussions on the party’s values and policies, including its policy on cross-strait relations.
Meanwhile, Hau attributed the party’s losses in the Jan. 11 elections to “selfishness” and a “lack of unity.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former premier William Lai (賴清德) ran on the same ticket after competing in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary, he said, adding: “This is an example we must learn from.”
“The KMT’s core philosophy is to defend the Republic of China [ROC] and oppose Taiwan’s independence,” Hau said, adding that he would follow that philosophy.
In his speech, Hau also addressed calls for older members of the KMT to hand over the party’s leadership to the younger generation, saying that a person’s attitude, ability and experience — rather than age — determine whether they are competent.
During the question-and-answer portion of the presentations, reporters asked Chiang whether he plans to run in the 2022 local elections or the 2024 national elections.
Chiang said that his focus at the moment is on serving the public in his capacity as a lawmaker and leading the KMT’s reform if he is elected next month.
If elected, his term as chairman would end on May 20 next year, he said, adding: “After 2021, I do not know whether I will have an opportunity to perform other duties.”
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
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
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS