Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Acting Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
Wu said that although former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) would like to see Wang become chairman, former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- who announced his presidential bid last month -- remains undecided.
It would be difficult for Ma's camp to accept Wang as chairman unless the legislative speaker decided not to run for president, he said.
"If Wang promises to take over the chairmanship, all the coordination problems within the party will be readily resolved," Wu said, referring to the unwillingness of either Wang or Ma to run for vice president under the other on the KMT's ticket.
Wu has previously said that he would resign as acting KMT chairman to ensure a fair competition in the by-election.
Lien admitted last Friday that he had tried to convince Wang to take the chairmanship and allow Ma to run for president, but to no avail.
"Inviting Wang to serve as the chairman was an option and he would be the perfect candidate to promote party unity. But it didn't work out that way. We regret that fact," Lien said on Friday.
"These are two different things [the chairmanship and the presidential primary]," Wang said when asked to comment on Wu's remarks.
He refused to speculate on why Wu made the comments, but said it would be unnecessary to take such an offer too seriously. He reiterated that he has his eyes on the presidency, not the KMT post.
"It's meaningless to enter the debate over whether Lien Chan wishes I was chairman so I could campaign for Ma in the presidential election -- because I have not thought of accepting the chairmanship," Wang said.
In a related development, KMT Legislator Hong Hsiu-chu (
Hung said that Lien was very worried about the turmoil in the party and the former chairman hoped all KMT members would put the party first.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
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