The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Youth Department yesterday said that 3,545 people under the age of 40 became party members last year, up about 40 percent from 2019.
Department director Chen Kuan-an (陳冠安) shared the figure while delivering a report on the department’s youth development plans for this year to members of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee at their weekly meeting in Taipei.
The meeting was chaired by KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
Estimates based on data from National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed that the KMT received about 3 million fewer votes than the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from voters aged 20 to 39 in last year’s presidential election, Chen said.
The 3,545 young members were willing to join the KMT at its “darkest moment,” Chen said, referring to the period following the KMT’s defeat in the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11 last year.
In 2019, the KMT had only about 9,000 members under the age of 40, he said, attributing the increase to the efforts of the KMT Institute of Revolutionary Practice, as well as his department.
At the end of last year, the KMT was about 4.7 percent behind the DPP in terms of support from young people, the closest-ever margin, he said, citing data released by the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation in November last year.
The closing of the gap since the election shows that the KMT has a chance to, and should try to, win the support of young people, he said.
The KMT’s youth, new media and policy research departments would each, through an open call, recruit deputy directors from young people who have previously participated in camps and salons held by the KMT, Chen said.
A spokesperson position in the KMT Culture and Communications Committee could also be reserved for someone who gained an audition, Chiang said.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,