Chances are increasing that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will announce a bid for president, according to sources close to Wang.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) representative in Kaohsiung Lee Po-jung (李柏融) said that Wang has started to motivate his staff and will be convening party members this week to initiate the signature drive required to run for the KMT presidential nomination.
Wang has remained equivocal about his intentions.
Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei Times
“I’m not saying that I will run, but I’m not saying I will not, either,” Wang said yesterday.
Wang was at China Medical University in Taichung yesterday to receive an honorary doctorate.
During the ceremony, Academia Sinica’s Lo Hao (羅浩), another honorary doctorate recipient, said that while he has become Wang’s “schoolmate,” Wang would probably be a president next year; a quip that brought a round of laughter from audience members.
Wang said he has been busy in the legislature recently, reiterating that he remained undecided.
When asked about New Taipei City Mayor and KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) declaration on Friday that he would not make a bid for next year’s election, Wang said he respects Chu’s decision.
When asked whether it would possible for him to work with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Wang said he and Soong have worked together on many issues.
Former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bing (郝龍斌), who on Thursday said Chu was “in deep contemplation” over the possibility of running for president, was at the KMT’s office in Kaohsiung on Friday.
Political observers said that it seems Hau is watching Wang closely for any developments over a possible announcement of a presidential bid.
Kaohsiung City Farmers’ Association secretary-general Hsiao Han-chun (蕭漢俊) said that Wang’s possible goal of vying for the nation’s top job meets the expectations of many members of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations.
Once it is confirmed that Wang is to run, not only would Kaohsiung’s fishermen’s association respond to his campaign needs, the farmers’ associations across the nation, which have received aid from Wang, would join the effort and collect signatures for him, Hsiao said.
Since last month, Wang has been invited to attend events almost every weekend. The southern counties and cities have been particularly enthusiastic, party sources said.
The events include meetings with KMT members and gatherings with city and county associations, women’s associations, charity groups and major temple festivals.
Many of Kaohsiung’s KMT councilors and legislators believe that the time is ripe for Wang to announce his intention to run for president, party sources said, adding that an official declaration could be made this week.
Meanwhile, KMT Kaohsiung City chapter director Hsu Fu-ming (許福明) said the office would follow the nomination procedure promulgated by the party, accepting applications from those who want to sign up.
As for Wang’s intentions, “I am not in a position to comment,” Hsu said.
‘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