Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) has been featured in Time magazine’s second annual “TIME100 Next” list, which recognizes “emerging leaders who are shaping the future.”
In a profile of Chiang written for “TIME100 Next,” Time East Asia correspondent Charlie Campbell described Chiang as “the youngest-ever leader of Asia’s oldest political party.”
Chiang, who was elected chairman in March last year, “knew that reforming Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) wouldn’t be easy,” Campbell wrote.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“But given that his party had just suffered two straight crushing election defeats, he knew they needed to move away from their aging base and attract a new generation of voters,” he wrote.
Asked for comment, Chiang told reporters at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday that he is honored to have received such recognition.
His inclusion in the list is not a personal achievement, but rather an indication that international media and society have been paying attention and looking forward to the reforms and changes that the KMT have made, Chiang said.
In the past year or so, he has faced a lot of pressure, Chiang said, adding that he hoped the KMT’s reform could move forward steadily, so that people who look forward to it would not be disappointed.
Chiang was included in the list’s “Leaders” category, alongside other honorees such as Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, US Representative Adam Kinzinger and US senators Ben Sasse, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
The list, which was released on Wednesday, is “an expansion of our flagship TIME100 franchise that highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal wrote in a statement.
“Although recognizing the leaders of tomorrow lends itself to a younger group, we intentionally have no age cap, an acknowledgment that ascents can begin at any age,” he said.
The KMT said in a statement yesterday that Chiang is the first Taiwanese politician to be named to the list.
Last year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was named one of the year’s 100 most influential figures by the magazine.
She was included in the same list in 2015 when she was chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party.
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