Legislator-elect Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), who was re-elected to represent Hualien County in the Jan. 13 legislative elections, is to be the new Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip in the Legislative Yuan after KMT legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) withdrew from the race for the position.
The KMT, which won 52 seats in the 113-seat legislature in the elections, is scheduled to elect a chief convener and secretary-general for its new legislative caucus today.
Lai, a senior lawmaker who has represented Taipei’s eighth electoral district in the Legislative Yuan since 2005, registered to run for the KMT caucus’ top whip position, but wrote on social media on Sunday that he would withdraw from the race against Fu, his only rival.
Photo: CNA
He said he learned that some members of the new KMT caucus felt tormented over the election and were hoping that a new convener could be chosen through coordinated efforts so that “a painful vote would be avoided.”
As a potential vote could take away from the caucus’ need to focus on its monitoring of the incoming presidential administration of William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai Shyh-bao said that nothing was more important than the internal unity of the party, which he called a “very vulnerable majority” in the new legislature.
Lai Shyh-bao’s decision means that Fu would assume the position as the KMT’s top caucus whip in the new legislature, to be inaugurated on Thursday.
Photo: CNA
In addition, Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) is to serve as secretary-general of the KMT’s new caucus and Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) is to be his deputy, after Lin decided not to run for the position of secretary-general.
Meanwhile, sources said that the DPP caucus yesterday decided on Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) as its caucus whip, Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) as its chief executive and Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) as its secretary-general.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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