Media personality and Broadcasting Corp of China (中廣) chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday said he would seek the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination to run in the 2024 presidential election.
Jaw, a former lawmaker who in 1993 left the KMT with several other members to form the New Party, on Monday last week said that he had submitted a request to restore his KMT membership, and that he would not rule out entering this year’s race for KMT chairperson.
Jaw said he was also open to making a bid for city mayor or county commissioner in next year’s local elections, or appearing on the ticket in the 2024 presidential election.
Photo: CNA
He said that former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was the KMT presidential candidate in last year’s election, at a meeting in September last year urged him to run for KMT chairman.
Asked by reporters in Taipei whether the early announcement of his interest in running in the KMT presidential primary was aimed at blocking a possible bid by former KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), Jaw said: “No one can block anyone... [Chu] will still run if he wants to.”
Chu, a former New Taipei City mayor, represented the KMT in the 2016 presidential election, which he lost to then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
He is also widely seen as a potential candidate for KMT chairman.
Asked whether he had discussed his decision with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT, Jaw said: “I did not discuss it with anyone.”
Jaw said he felt the Tsai administration was not doing a good job.
“I think I have a chance, and I think I have a lot of ideas to make Taiwan better, to make Taiwan greater,” he said.
Asked whether he would consider being a vice presidential candidate, Jaw said: “Probably not.”
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) in a statement on Wednesday last week said that Jaw’s request to return to the KMT had been approved.
Jaw would be appointed to the KMT’s Central Advisory Committee after the Lunar New Year holiday, Chiang said.
According to KMT regulations, a party member must have served in the Central Advisory Committee or Central Standing Committee to run in the chairperson election.
Additional reporting by CNA
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