A group of young Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members yesterday announced the formation of the “Grassroots Alliance” (草協聯盟), which aims to transform the party via a “guerrilla reformative project” that aims to address issues such as intra-party democracy.
The group includes KMT Youth League Secretary-General Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓), KMT International Information and Events Center director Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), KMT Youth League chief Hsiao Ching-yan (蕭敬嚴) and former league chief Lin Chia-hsing (林家興).
The group called on the party and its members to support the project, which has six aims: To establish intra-party democracy, encourage young people to participate in politics, reform party affairs, solve the party’s dilemma over its assets, and stimulate debates over the party’s cross-strait policies and its identity narrative.
Photo: CNA.
Those who intend to run for the party’s chairmanship should reveal their intentions and set out concrete policies detailing in which direction they would take the party, the group said, adding that at least one policy presentation event and one debate should be held before the election.
The requirement that candidates should have served on the party’s Central Committee should be scrapped, the group said.
“Five percent of county and city councilor candidates fielded by the party should be younger people,” the alliance said. “The party should also set up a reform committee to reflect on the causes of the party’s electoral rout and committee members should not be restricted to party members.”
“The party’s assets have become the KMT’s debt,” Lee said. “The party should, while maintaining current and retired party workers’ benefits, formulate clear principles to manage its assets that meet the public’s expectations.”
“Only when the party’s dilemma over its assets is dealt with definitively will the KMT behave like a normal party — counting every cent it spends,” Lee said.
With regard to the party’s identity, Hsiao said that as Taiwanese adhere to different ideologies and national identities, the party should hold a debate on the direction of its cross-strait policies and formulate a position that is suitable for Taiwanese as a whole.
“The party’s stance that the Republic of China is the nation’s core value and Taiwan its identity should be rethought,” he added.
Hsu called on young people who support the KMT to become members and exercise their rights to join party representative elections and reform the party.
“We are going to promote our reform ideas by making public speeches in the six special municipalities starting from next week, and we also plan to launch a signature drive to solicit more support,” Hsu said.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS