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
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
RSS