New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) was elected chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday with 196,830 votes, or 99.61 percent of all ballots cast, the highest in terms of percentage of votes obtained since the party first chose its leader by popular vote among party members in 2000.
The turnout from 349,374 party members eligible to vote was 56.34 percent, about the same as the six previous leadership polls, KMT headquarters said.
Chu — the only candidate — surpassed the 97.07 percent of votes former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) garnered in 2001 and 94.18 percent that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) received in 2009.
Photo: AFP
Ma and Lien were also unopposed in their respective elections.
The poll was held due to Ma having resigned from the post following the party’s rout in last year’s Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections.
Chu is to be sworn in tomorrow and announce his appointments for party officials, including up to seven vice chairmen.
After casting his ballot, Chu, was asked by a reporter whether his lack of leverage in the Executive Yuan and the legislature would put him in a less advantageous position than his predecessors.
Chu said he was fine with a weak chairmanship, but the party would have its heyday under his leadership.
Chu said he would elaborate on his platforms on issues of public concern tomorrow.
Former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), who is to become vice president of Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時) next month, declined to say whether he would continue to serve as vice chairman if Chu appoints him.
Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), also asked about the vice chairmanship, said: “No.”
According to data provided by KMT headquarters, voter turnout in Taipei was 38.91 percent, the lowest among the nation’s 22 cities and counties, while the highest voter turnout was in New Taipei City, with 71.61 percent.
KMT party members in Greater Kaohsiung were not as enthusiastic about the vote, with turnout at 48.47 percent — placing the municipality in the list of six cities and counties where turnout was lower than 50 percent. The remaining four were Taitung County at 40.45 percent, Miaoli County with 43.26 percent, Hualien County at 46.29 percent and Penghu County with 48.63 percent.
Late last night, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), in his capacity as secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sent a letter of congratulations to Chu, in which he expressed his wish for both sides to stick to the so-called “1992 consensus” and to a position against Taiwanese independence, to further the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
In Chu’s reply, he praised the progress made in cross-strait relations over the past six years on the basis of the consensus, and said he hoped that the two parties could broaden exchanges to assist the sustainable development of peace and prosperity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Chu reiterated a formula he proposed when meeting with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) during Zhang’s visit to Taiwan in June last year, which called for both sides to “seek common ground while respecting differences” (求同尊異), which he said revised the idea that both sides should “seek common ground while setting aside differences” (求同存異).
“Although people on both sides of the strait are Zhonghua minzu [中華民族, “Chinese ethnicity”], we should seek common ground and respect differences to reduce the psychological distance between the two sides,” Chu said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘NOT SUBORDINATE’: Only Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, and people preserving their democratic way of life is not a provocation, President William Lai said Taiwan does not want China’s “one country, two systems,” and must uphold its freedom and democracy as well as resolve to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, rejecting Beijing’s latest bid to bring the country under Chinese control. The president made the remarks while attending a commissioning ceremony for Taiwan’s first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The tanks are made by General Dynamics, a major US defense contractor. China this week said it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media
RSS