Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said that he would use party disciplinary mechanisms to punish “saboteurs” within the KMT who called for replacing New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its presidential candidate.
Public polls released in the past few days had shown a dip in support for Hou.
“Our party has some dissenting voices. The most important thing right now is to unify and consolidate our efforts. If we cannot do that, then it will make Democratic Progressive Party very happy,” Chu said at KMT youth event in Kaohsiung.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Please do not get influenced by these saboteurs, as we know many party members are anxious right now,” he said. “We must unify with all our efforts to achieve our party’s aims.”
“In the KMT we have strict party discipline. At this stage we are calling for unity and better communication, but if they [people critical within the party] are harming our presidential and legislative candidates, then they will be punished according to party discipline measures,” he added.
NOMINATION
Some KMT members have said that the nomination of Hou on May 17 had been an “opaque process,” which Chu called rumors, and not worthy of a response.
“All KMT members must give their strong support and back up our party’s presidential and legislative candidates, and must not create internal discord or shoot arrows from behind against our own candidates,” he said.
In other developments, sources yesterday said that Hou has made plans to visit Japan late next month, when he would meet with former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso, who is vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and hold talks with other Japanese lawmakers.
Hou is to focus on Japan’s public safety protocols and social infrastructure projects on the visit, the sources said.
His meeting with Aso would most likely focus on foreign affairs and economic issues, particularly on how to deepen ties between Taiwan and Japan, they said.
Additional reporting by Hsu Chuo-hsun
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