The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed calls from some KMT members for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to step down as party chairman amid the scandal surrounding former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世).
“The KMT is a party with a party-state system, and there are a lot of things that require communication and negotiation between the administrative branch and the party. It is necessary for the president to lead the party,” KMT Culture and Communication director Chuang Po-chung (莊伯仲) said.
Some KMT members have urged Ma to step down as KMT chairman and focus on his presidential responsibilities after Lin, one of his favored officials, was detained for allegedly accepting a NT$63 million (US$2.11 million) bribe from Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥), head of Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦公司), a metal-recycling firm.
Photo: CNA
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), who is also a KMT Central Standing Committee member, questioned Ma’s choice of officials and urged him to focus on his presidential duties.
“President Ma should leave party affairs to others. He should take the time to re-examine his choice of personnel and stop trusting those with little talent. More importantly, he should stop trusting people who only say good words to him,” she said.
Calls for Ma to step down as KMT chairman were made earlier, amid a public uproar over fuel and electricity price hikes in May, with some KMT Central Standing Committee members expressing concern about Ma’s plummeting approval ratings because of his policies and suggested that one of the party’s hopefuls for the 2016 presidential election should take over as KMT chairman.
In a poll released by broadcaster TVBS yesterday, Ma’s approval rating dropped 5 percentage points from before the scandal to a record low of 15 percent, while 70 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with his performance.
Ma served as KMT chairman from 2005 to 2007, but resigned after being indicted for alleged misuse of his special allowance fund as Taipei mayor. He was elected party chairman again in 2009 in an attempt to seek closer cooperation between the KMT and the government.
Lin’s involvement in corruption allegations seriously damaged Ma’s reputation as a politician with integrity. The president is having a hard time distancing himself and his administration from Lin as he had endorsed Lin and entrusted him with major posts in both the KMT and the government.
Chuang yesterday dismissed concerns about the KMT’s election outlook in southern Taiwan after Lin, who has enjoyed solid support in Greater Kaohsiung, was removed from the party, adding that the KMT would work harder to consolidate voter support in central and southern areas.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS