Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who withdrew from the KMT before it officially expelled him on Wednesday, along with four other party members, yesterday said that there are always signs before a political party falls apart.
The KMT’s expulsion of five members on Wednesday, including Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟), who lost his legislative seat, as he represented the KMT as a legislator-at-large, has sparked discussion and criticism.
Chang said there are always signs before a party collapses, adding that the KMT not being able to tolerate dissent or different opinions and only wanting to defend mistaken policies has left many members feeling deeply disappointed.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“There are reasons the party made the move before July 19 [Sunday’s national congress], such as hoping to strengthen intra-party stability and prevent those who are against Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) [the KMT’s presumptive presidential candidate] from making a fuss during the congress,” Chang said.
“We will definitely not be the last batch [to leave the KMT],” he said. “There is another group [that will be leaving the party] after the national congress.”
In an interview with online news outlet China Review yesterday, Chang said that 13 KMT members, comprising elected representatives and legislators, as well as many local party members, have also expressed their intention to leave the party.
Chi yesterday said he is simply following his conscience by choosing to stand with the people.
“I tried to wake him up, afraid that he is crashing into an iceberg, but he got pissed off because I revealed the truth so he threw me off the ship. It was that simple,” Chi said.
When asked who was steering the ship, he said the captain and the chief officer are “the original version and the 2.0 version,” apparently referring to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) respectively.
Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), an Academia Sinica researcher who played a prominent role in the Sunflower movement and who is now a member of the New Power Party, said Chi, unlike KMT legislators like Alex Tsai (蔡正元), is one of the very few KMT legislators who want to reform the party.
“In the end, it was people like Chi who got ousted. Though the reasons given for the expulsion are absurd, and also suspected of being unconstitutional, it is really not a bad thing to leave the KMT as early as possible,” Huang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday said that he felt sorry for Chi, since Chi has been a diehard KMT loyalist.
“Chi and I have been on the Internal Administration Committee together and I would describe him as a ‘diehard loyalist’ to the party, as he supported almost all the KMT’s policy proposals and defended the party when making appearances on political commentary shows,” Chen said. “I feel sorry for him because of what he has done for the party.”
Asked if the DPP would consider nominating Chi in the coming legislative election, Chen said that, since the DPP has completed its nomination for Chi’s constituency in Taichung, “it seems that there is not much space for cooperation.”
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said that there could be some space for cooperation and that the party would not reject former members of other parties.
“We would hold a welcoming attitude toward those who decide to join the DPP, because they no longer agree with the party they used to be affiliated with,” Hsu said.
Additional reporting by Loa Lok-sin
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS