Former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday announced his bid for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson, a position he held from 2015 to 2016.
Chu made the announcement via a post on Facebook under the title “Change brings hope, regaining leadership brings about change.”
“Given the plight facing the KMT, as a member of the party, I feel duty-bound [to help] and officially announce that I will join the race for KMT chairperson,” he wrote.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
If elected, Chu promised to form a work panel to prepare for next year’s local elections and to select the strongest candidate to represent the party in the 2024 presidential race to help the KMT return to power.
“In face of the Democratic Progressive Party’s chaotic governance,” he said he would integrate and present the achievements of the 14 local governments ruled by the KMT to demonstrate the party’s governing capacity.
Chu is expected to pose the greatest challenge to KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang’s (江啟臣) re-election bid.
The KMT chairperson election was originally scheduled for July 24, but was postponed to Sept. 25 due to a local COVID-19 outbreak. Aside from Chiang and Chu, three other KMT members have expressed their intention to join the race — Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), president of the non-governmental organization the Sun Yat-sen School; Wei Po-tao (韋伯韜), former head of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics; and former Changhua County commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源).
Local media reports said former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), are also interested in running for KMT chairperson.
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
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant