Former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) was yesterday elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman in a four-way race that included outgoing chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
Chu, 60, garnered 85,164 votes, or 45 percent of the 187,998 KMT members who cast ballots. Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) trailed behind with 60,632 votes, followed by Chiang with 35,090 votes and former Changhua County commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) with 5,133 votes. Voter turnout was 50.71 percent.
This will be Chu’s second time heading the party. He was elected KMT chairman in an unopposed by-election in January 2015 and resigned in January 2016 following the party’s losses in the presidential and legislative elections.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
In his victory speech yesterday, Chu said his election would be the start of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) worries.
“The KMT will unite in an unprecedented manner, and we will fight for the pan-blue camp’s decisive victory,” he said. “We will fight for people’s rights and resist the DPP’s overbearing and aggressive behavior.”
Asked by reporters what his approach would be to relations with China, Chu said the Taiwan-China relationship is “very important,” and that he would strive to open all channels of communication with China.
Photo: CNA
Chu also reiterated his intention to open a KMT representative office in the US.
Chu added he would travel across Taiwan to gather feedback on ways to improve the party from his supporters and detractors alike.
He would seek to restore confidence in the KMT and encourage involvement of young people in the party’s improvement, he said.
Following the election results yesterday evening, Chiang at the KMT headquarters in Taipei led party officials in resigning en masse and tasked KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) with handling the handover of the party leadership to Chu.
Chiang said that despite his personal loss in the election, he felt the results to be demonstrative of a “democratic test for the party, which is a win for everyone.”
Chiang offered his congratulations to Chu and thanked the other two candidates for their participation in the election.
His next step would be to campaign across the nation to garner support for two referendums sponsored by the KMT that are to be put to a vote in December, he said, adding that he would also work to encourage more young people to participate in the party’s improvement.
Chang said the results were "very regretful," but that he also felt he had "taken the first step on the path toward rousing the party spirit."
"This is the foundation that will carry the party forward," he said. "We must persevere in carrying out Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) political ideology. Otherwise we can’t be called the KMT."
His second-place election result demonstrated party supporters’ affirmation of his ideals and behavior, he added.
The results of the chairperson election is to be delivered to the party’s decisionmaking Central Standing Committee for confirmation on Wednesday. Chu is to assume office at the KMT National Congress on Oct. 30.
DPP spokeswoman Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) congratulated Chu on his election win and said the DPP hoped Chu would work together with the administration in the spirit of public will and toward public benefit.
DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that Chiang’s defeat in the election meant a rejection of his moderate leadership, while the rapid rise of Chang and his strong performance in the election meant growing support among KMT supporters for unification with China.
Although Chu won the election, the KMT would come under increasing pressure from unification supporters, he said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun, Hsieh Chun-ling and CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS