Following the orders of incumbent chairman Lien Chan (連戰), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairmen Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday reported on their plans for the party and thoughts on the KMT's values as part of their campaigns for the party chairmanship.
While Lien was positive about the candidates' reports, the KMT's Central Standing Committee seemed less than thrilled, with many attacking Ma and calling on Lien to consider running.
Last Wednesday, Lien called for both chairmanship hopefuls to report to the Central Standing Committee about their views on the party's future and direction. Wang and Ma spoke for 40 minutes each about their views on the KMT's core values, their plans for the year-end mayoral and county commissioner elections, the party's beleaguered financial situation and on the cross-strait situation.
In his report, Ma gave a general speech about the importance of the KMT in Taiwan. Wang's report was more concrete, with Wang specifically detailing his strategy for helping the KMT win the year-end elections and emphasizing that under his command, the KMT's focus would be to counter the pan-green camp through the legislature.
In comparison, Ma paid more attention to the party's financial situation, party workers' concerns and party reforms in his report, emphasizing that the KMT is more than just an election machine.
Wang and Ma's reports reflected their campaign promises to uphold the KMT's values, guarantee party employee's rights, solve the party's financial situation and facilitate democratization of the party.
In a point of difference between the two however, Wang said that "in the interest of pursuing justice, at critical moments, [the KMT] must take to the streets when it should ... since extreme situations call for extreme measures."
In contrast, Ma said that "taking to the streets is nothing remarkable; most important is to achieve your actual goal and appeal to the people."
The comment highlighted a point of contention among blue camp supporters about Ma's suitability for the KMT's top post. Several pan-blue figures, including Wang and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Given that Lien's recent trips to China have increased his popularity and boosted calls for his continued stay in the KMT's top post, the two vice chairmen's views on the cross-strait situation were a focus of yesterday's meeting.
Despite the heightened attention however, the vice chairmen's views on the issue were similar, with Ma and Wang expressing their support for the results of Lien's trip. In their reports yesterday, both Wang and Ma reiterated their support for the so-called "1992 Consensus," the status quo and the Republic of China as an institution.
Going a step further, Wang called for the establishment of two different platforms for party-member dialogue and domestic party-to-party dialogue, in addition to the platform being created between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party as a result of Lien's trip to China.
The reports were made in response to Lien's request last week that the vice chairmen to describe in detail their visions for the party. Speaking last Wednesday, Lien said that he had "no wish" to enter the chairmanship election, but that given the lack of issues in the two chairmen's campaigns for the July 16 election, it was necessary that Wang and Ma sit down and discuss their plans.
While Lien originally said that if the reports were unsatisfactory, there would be more negotiations, Lien yesterday seemed pleased with the results of his request.
"The KMT is trying a new thing, under the atmosphere of unity and cooperation. Both candidates have fully expressed their ambitions and ideals, and have also shown [us] their sincerity along with the creativity of their reports," Lien said.
"The chairmanship election has already officially begun. I expect that both candidates will participate in `a competition of gentlemen,'" he added.
Less satisfied at the meeting however, were the KMT's Central Standing Committee members, with a number of members continuing to express their hope that Lien would enter the race.
Others at the KMT also expressed their hopes for Lien's continued stay in the party's top post, with songs and tearful cries.
During yesterday's meeting, a small throng of Lien supporters congregated in the lobby of the KMT headquarters, singing songs and calling on Lien to not "abandon us" before being dispersed by the KMT's building guards.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS