Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said she would not be dissuaded from participating in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) primary for its presidential candidate, with the chances of KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) signing up for the primary said to be dimming.
Despite Hung and former minister of health Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) signing up for the primary and vowing to abide by the rules promulgated by the party, media reports have suggested that the KMT remains more concerned about those who have not signed up for the primary, including Chu, Wang and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Hung gave two radio interviews, highlighting that she is sure that the word “conscription” does not appear in the primary rules stipulated by the party.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
If Hung remains the only participant to sign up for the primary and obtains the required 15,000 signatures, she would still have to — according to the primary rules — pass a threshold of 30 percent support to win the party’s nomination, which has been dubbed “the KMT’s mechanism to stall the brick and wait for the jade (防磚待玉),” with Hung being the “brick” and Chu the “jade.”
The rules state that if a candidate fails to pass the poll threshold, the party’s central committee can advise the party against nominating that single runner.
With Yaung standing a good chance of acquiring 15,000 signatures, he said: “Even if neither of us pass the 30 percent support threshold, there is still a second round of polls — after intraparty negotiations between the candidates — and the person who garners a higher support percentage in the second poll would emerge as the winner. There is no reference to ‘conscription’ in the rules.”
Radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) said that even if there is no question of drafting, “there still exists the possibility of registered contenders being talked out of the race [so the party can enlist whoever it favors].”
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has two main tenets: Taiwanese independence and opposition to nuclear power. What are our party lines? On the platform provided by the primary, aspirants can engage in policy debate, and clarify and make public the party’s central beliefs,” she said.
Hung called on those who wish to run for president to go through the primary process, while describing the alleged party’s plan to resort to “drafting” as “forcing a bride into a [wedding] palanquin.”
As Saturday is the last day for KMT hopefuls to sign up for the primary, it was said that yesterday was the most appropriate day for Wang to begin his application process, as he would still need to collect signatures from at least 15,000 party members.
As of press time yesterday, there had been no sign of Wang visiting KMT headquarters to pick up an application form.
“It is said that KMT lawmakers whose constituencies are in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung are against Wang’s nomination, as the KMT hardliners in the north dislike Wang and the lawmakers’ own prospects of being re-elected would be negatively affected,” Chou said, asking Hung whether she could confirm the rumor.
“I could not say that it is 100 percent true, but I do feel it,” Hung said, adding that, for instance, the picture of Wang and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) showing up together at a recent event riled some “deep blue” electorates.
Next Magazine yesterday reported that Wang has deferred his plan to join the race due to objections from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is said to have misgivings about Wang because of the much-hyped political feud between the two that ended with Wang retaining his party membership.
A source from the KMT was quoted by the magazine as saying that KMT voters would not support Wang because of his alleged undue influence for [DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘)]” and that his high poll numbers have been exaggerated by DPP supporters who would not vote for him.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS