Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday signed up to participate in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) primary for its presidential candidate, becoming the first person to do so after the nomination process began.
More than 100 of Hung’s supporters gathered outside the KMT’s headquarters as Hung went through the process of acquiring an application form.
“Give me Hung Hsiu-chiu, pillar of tomorrow,” chanted her supporters. The word “pillar” is an allusion to the last character of her name in Chinese.
Photo: CNA
Addressing the crowd, Hung said that the battle had begun.
“Changes start today,” she said. “I would have every bone in my body smashed in exchange for the nation walking on the right path.”
She also pledged to take part in the primary, which she described as a fair and open election process under a democratic mechanism.
“Without this process, there will only be closed-door negotiations,” which Hung said she would never accept.
Hung is the only KMT member so far to come forward, while other hopefuls, including Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) have remained tight-lipped about their intentions.
Asked if he would also be taking an application form, Wang yesterday said: “I don’t know now ... later,” while giving his support to Hung.
New Taipei City Mayor and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) — who is widely seen as the KMT’s best chance of winning the presidential election next year — has made it clear on several occasions that he has no plans to enter the race.
Some KMT supporters remain hopeful that Chu might change his mind if enough people come forward to persuade him to run for the presidency.
The KMT started the nomination process to select a presidential candidate yesterday. Interested party members need to submit an application form and collect supporting signatures from 5 percent of KMT members to register as a candidate.
The hopefuls have 27 days to complete the process, with candidate registrations taking place on May 17 and May 18.
The candidate is to be selected by a combination of opinion polls and a vote by party members. The average from two polls is to account for 70 percent of the final result and the party members’ vote, to be held on June 14, would make up the remaining 30 percent.
The KMT has more than 300,000 members, so potential candidates need to collect 15,000 signatures each to reach the next stage of the selection process.
The KMT is to nominate its presidential candidate at a party convention in mid-July.
The Democratic Progressive Party on Wednesday last week nominated Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as its presidential candidate.
The Central Election Commission last month selected Jan. 16 next year as the date for the presidential and legislative elections.
‘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
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS