The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is aiming to have the least expensive presidential election campaign, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday, after the party was reported to have achieved little success in fundraising with KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on the ballot.
“For the upcoming general election, we would set a new record for the least amount of campaign funds spent. What we are counting on is favors and friendships from the people. Our campaign staff members at different localities hold rallies by themselves without spending funds from campaign headquarters,” Chu told reporters on the sideline of a campaign event for the party’s legislative candidate Chang Szu-kang (張斯綱) in Taipei.
The party is to hold 17 campaign rallies nationwide from until the election day, Chu said.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
“The KMT does not have many resources, and Hou’s campaign headquarters would not raise funds and depend mainly on small donations from independent voters and grassroots support,” he said.
Chu said that the general election this year is “a choice between war and peace.”
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has ruled the country for almost eight years, during which the government has been plagued with scandals, corruption and injustice,” Chu said. “This is also a choice for honesty, fairness and justice. When Hou is elected, he would definitely resume the operation of the Special Investigation Division to address the injustice and build an honest government again.”
Chu also criticized Vice President and DPP presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德), saying that people should be concerned about Lai’s support for an independent Taiwan.
“No US government official or US think tank agrees with or supports Taiwan’s independence, and yet Lai is known for being the golden grandson of pro-independence activists and a pragmatic activist for Taiwan independence,” he said.
All articles published by US think tanks are about how a pro-Taiwan independence candidate would affect and harm the world situation. This is the question that people should seriously ponder,” Chu said.
Separately yesterday in response to media queries for comment regarding the KMT’s campaign fundraising, Taiwan’s People Party chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he believed Chu for saying that KMT would spend the least amount of campaign funds compared with previous elections.
“They used to have more than NT$10 billion [US$317.7 million] at their disposal, but now they can only make do with just a few billion [new Taiwan dollars]. Of course, the campaign funds they can use are much less,” Ko said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS