While the call to replace Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate was voiced loudly at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, angry Hung supporters gathered outside KMT headquarters in Taipei to protest a plan to replace Hung, demanding that KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) resign.
More than a hundred supporters, many clad in red and blue, rallied yesterday afternoon outside the building, behind a line of police officers and blockades set up in front.
At least five groups, including the White Justice Alliance, had rallied Hung’s supporters on Facebook before yesterday’s protest as the party’s Central Standing Committee mulled calling an extempore party congress to pass a resolution to replace the deputy legislative speaker as the KMT’s presidential candidate.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The crowd raised various banners rooting for Hung, castigating Chu and calling on the KMT to stay true to its principles.
“Our opponent is [Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate] Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)]” and “The 100-year-old party is depending on Hung for change” were among the slogans.
The supporters were predominantly elderly, with just a few young people spotted among the crowd.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
China Unification Promotion Party Chairman Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” appeared for a short period of time, shouting his opposition to the KMT’s plan to remove Hung from the race.
“What is wrong with calling for an ultimate unification [between Taiwan and China]?” Chang asked. “If you are called the Chinese Nationalist Party, you should not object to unification.”
“The KMT has ended up in this mess because it does not dare admit that it is Chinese,” he said, asking why none of the KMT heavyweights had borne the responsibility of running for president in May and had to let “Hung, a little girl” do so.
Photo: Sam Yeh. AFP
There were also some unexpected protesters in the crowd.
A group of former freeway toll collectors, accompanied by labor activists, were there to accuse both the KMT and the DPP of failing to propose a solution for workers laid off when the nation switched to an electronic toll collection system in January last year.
They were criticized by Hung’s supporters, who questioned “their intentions and why they were not busy looking for jobs.”
“The workers’ stance is that whoever takes care of the workers will get our vote,” the former toll collectors said.
Gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), holding a rainbow-colored flag and claiming to represent pan-blue gays, said he had joined the protest because he believes Hung would be supportive of the marriage equality campaign.
“I know that quite a few members of her campaign team are gay, meaning that Hung is actually supporting us in a substantive way,” Chi said.
When asked about the fact that Hung had not openly voiced her support for same-sex marriage, Chi said that what he cares about is the concrete assistance that politicians provide, citing former KMT Taipei City councilor — and current KMT spokesperson — Lin Yi-hua (林奕華), who Chi said had helped the gay community many times during her term as a councilor.
He said he did not think Tsai would push for same-sex marriage “because, unlike Hung, she has been accused of being gay, and like [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)], she would not proactively push the passage of a bill for fear of being labeled.”
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS