The controversy surrounding the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee (CSC) election escalated yesterday after 22 elected committee members said they would resign.
The CSC members, who were elected on Oct. 11, offered their resignations after elected committee members Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) and Chiang Da-lung (江達隆) were found to have given gifts to party delegates.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) was the first of the members to announce his resignation during a political talk show late on Thursday night.
He told the press yesterday that he was aware of the problems with the committee election.
“However, I do not enjoy the authority to lead reform [within the party] despite a thirst for reform deep in my heart,” Chiu said, adding that he had no alternative but to offer to quit his position.
Chiu urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to compromise in pushing for party reform.
Among the other 21 who offered to resign were KMT legislators Chang Hsian-yao (張顯燿), Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田), Chen Chieh (陳杰), KMT Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ru (賴素如) and chairman of the Core Pacific Group (威京集團) Shen Ching-ching (沈慶京).
The KMT’s Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee on Tuesday revoked Yang’s elected status, because he was found to have sent fish to delegates via a home delivery service, and Chiang, who sent them red wine. The committee said it was still investigating if more Central Standing Committee members were involved in bribery.
Meanwhile, KMT Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華), EasyCard Corporation chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chie (謝龍介) and KMT youth corps member Lee De-wei (李德維) issued a joint statement saying they had proposed holding a re-election.
“If the proposal fails to pass the CSC next week, we will offer our resignations,” Lin said yesterday at the Taipei City Council.
Lin said they had considered offering their resignations yesterday, but later decided that following party procedures and seeking a consensus at the CSC on a re-election would be a better way to demonstrate the KMT’s determination to reform.
In addition to holding a re-election, Lien said the party should also scrap the current CSC election system if it wanted to root out bribery.
“The district-voting system makes it easy for local branches to carry out vote equalization, while bribery was common among candidates,” he said. “We should take advantage of the situation right now and change the voting system.”
On Thursday, five KMT legislators, including Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) also made a similar call, urging a re-election to show the party’s determination to reform.
Two other KMT legislators, however, disagreed with holding another election.
KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳), who is also a member of the standing committee, called for party unity, while Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), another member of the committee, said she would not support a re-election unless the original election was found to be flawed.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ma insisted on the legitimacy of the CSC election and said he would not initiate a committee re-election.
The CSC election was held in a fair and legitimate manner but recent speculation about bribery had caused a negative public perception, KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said at party headquarters yesterday, relaying Ma’s remarks.
“Chairman Ma supported and encouraged members who resigned to state their innocence and rebuild the credibility of the CSC,” he said.
Lee Chien-jung dismissed concerns that Ma was behind several members’ decision to quit, but added that the KMT would have to hold a large-scale by-election if enough CSC members resign and the weekly meeting did not have enough people attending.
He said “the chairman has no right to initiate a re-election or by-election, and cannot force any members to quit their seats.”
According to KMT regulations, the CSC should meet with the presence of at least half its members, including the chairman, six vice chairmen, five designated members and 32 elected members. The party can hold a re-election if 23 CSC members resign.
Ma gathered party officials later on Thursday night to discuss the matter, but decided not to initiate a re-election as party regulations did not give the chairman the authority to do so.
Were a re-election to be held, it would be the first in KMT history.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS