Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday expressed “gratitude and apologies to those who have high expectations” of him, saying that he is not able to shoulder a “weighty mission,” which has been interpreted as him announcing he will not contest the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary.
Wang called for party unity, saying “an individual’s honor or humiliation is a trivial matter.”
“The solidarity of the KMT is not a question for one person or a party calculation, but for all Taiwanese and the continuation of the Republic of China,” Wang said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Taiwan is now deeply embroiled in tumult and distress, and only when the ruling party shows unity can society’s rift be stopped,” he said. “[I] will act as a seed of solidarity for our future generations.”
“The election is a one-time thing. We cannot damage our soft power for the sake of winning it,” he said.
KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰), who has long been regarded as pro-Wang, backed the speaker on his call for solidarity.
“The speaker did not pick up the application [for the party’s primary] in order to secure party solidarity, the stability of the nation and the stable development of cross-strait relations,” Lu said. “We respect his decision.”
When asked whether the emphasis on solidarity indicated that there has been disharmony within the party or that Wang had faced pressure from party members, Lu said: “[We] have a clear sense of it [while it was not made explicit]. For [the party’s] solidarity, what needs to be done is to gnash the teeth and swallow any broken ones.”
“For the sake of solidarity, the humiliation and burden that needed to be borne has to be borne,” Lu added, implying that Wang’s aspirations have been suppressed. “This is my personal view though. We should give credit to the speaker for discerning right from wrong.”
Speculation has been rife that Wang did not join the primary because of obstruction from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who has signed up for the primary, said that rumors had been deliberately spread by unidentified sources, “making some who had intended to join the primary back out.”
“Wang’s statement could be seen as conveying what he has felt recently,” Hung said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that “solidarity” — which was mentioned five times in Wang’s three-minute statement — was directed at Ma because “both the rhetoric of solidarity and how it is ‘not for one person’s benefit’ was a slap in Ma’s face.”
Chen said that in Wang’s statement, there was no wording that said he was “not running for president.”
Meanwhile, as the primary is set to take place without any senior KMT members participating, with KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) having declared they do not intend to run, the possibility of the KMT using its “draft” mechanism has become more likely.
“It would not look good if we have to resort to a draft, but if that is what has to be done, then a draft it is,” KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said.
Hung said that the KMT, “especially Chu, would not be able to bear the pressure if a draft was used, as it would set tongues wagging and draw condemnation from the public, affecting next year’s presidential and legislative election campaigns, and causing the party to crumble.”
‘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
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
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