The Hsinchu chapter of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday expelled Hsinchu County Council Speaker Chang Pi-chin (張碧琴) for registering for the year-end local elections after the party nominated someone else to run for the position of county commissioner.
Lin Kuo-ping (林國平), chairman of the KMT Hsinchu chapter, said the chapter had forwarded its resolution to KMT headquarters for approval and hoped it would be finalized tomorrow.
Peng Tseng-yuan (彭增源), a standing member of the chapter's Discipline Committee, said they had no alternative but to “reluctantly” cancel Chang's membership because she had violated party rules.
PHOTO: HUANG MEI-CHU, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT has nominated KMT Legislator Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) to contest the Hsinchu County commissioner election on Dec. 5.
Former KMT legislator Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), who lost to Lee Wuo-shi (李沃士) in the party's primary for Kinmen County commissioner, yesterday also announced his withdrawal from the party and registered as a candidate in the election.
Huang Yuan-liang (黃原亮), chairperson of the KMT's Kinmen chapter, said it would present Wu's case to party headquarters for “recommended discipline.”
Aside from Hsinchu and Kinmen, the KMT is also facing a possible split in Yunlin, Hualien, Taitung, Chiayi, Nantou, Yilan, Taoyuan and Penghu.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) yesterday said the Party Disciplinary Committee and the Committee Against Corruption would take care of the Hsinchu chapter's recommendation to expel Chang.
Because the two committees are independent units, Chan said he did not have a say on the matter and the party would respect the decision they make.
On the candidate for Yunlin County commissioner, Chan confirmed that the party was having a hard time finding a replacement for Chang Li-shan (張麗善), but said it would have an “appropriate candidate” before the deadline for registration of candidates, which started yesterday and ends on Friday.
Chang Li-shan last week tearfully withdrew from the race, citing family reasons. Her withdrawal was another blow to the KMT after its resounding defeat in the Yunlin legislative by-election about a week ago.
The split in the pan-blue vote, with both KMT candidate Chang Ken-hui (張艮輝) and independent candidate Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元) running in the by-election, helped Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) win by a landslide.
Chang Hui-yuan said after the by-election that he was considering joining the race for Yunlin County commissioner.
Following Chang Li-shan's withdrawal, the KMT has conducted opinion polls on four hopefuls, but Chan yesterday declined to reveal the outcome, saying it was for internal reference only.
Asked whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who will assume the KMT chairmanship on Oct. 17, would personally talk to defiant party members to resolve the problem, Chan said Ma only expressed concern on the matter but did not have time to get personally involved because he was preoccupied with state affairs, including the financial crisis and flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot.
Meanwhile, DPP Spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said yesterday that former DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) would represent the party in the Taoyuan County commissioner race.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will make an official announcement on Cheng's nomination tomorrow during the Central Standing Committee, Chao said.
The party's platform for the race will be “clean governance, diligence and love for the land” coupled with the slogan “pan-green government, quality guaranteed,” Chao said.
The official strategy of the DPP will be unveiled after the nationwide conference on Oct. 18, he said.
The DPP does not plan to nominate candidates for Kinmen and Lienchiang counties and plans to team up with Chang Chih-ming (張志明), who recently withdrew his membership from the KMT to run as an independent for Hualien County commissioner.
The Dec. 5 elections will not include Taipei County, Kaohsiung County, Taichung County, Taichung City, Tainan City and Tainan County as they will either be directly upgraded to the status of a special municipality or be integrated into a special municipality next year. They will hold their elections simultaneously with heads of the two existing special municipalities — Taipei City and Kaohsiung City — next year.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND CNA
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we