Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday apologized to New Taipei City residents for breaking his promise to serve out his term as the municipality’s mayor after being endorsed by a KMT extempore congress to replace Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the party’s presidential candidate.
Following a landslide vote to rescind Hung’s candidacy, a majority of the 891 KMT representatives at the congress approved Chu’s nomination by standing up and applauding.
The congress authorized Chu to recommend a possible vice presidential candidate, whose nomination is then to be assessed by the party’s seven-person presidential nomination evaluation panel headed by KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
Photo: CNA
Against the backdrop of party representatives chanting: “Eric Chu, winning the election” and “Go KMT,” Chu said it was with a solemn and heavy heart that he shouldered the expectations the public had for the party.
“Starting today [yesterday], we will adjust our pace and start afresh,” Chu said. “This critical moment might go down in history as a day of polarization for the KMT, but it could also be a time of solidarity.”
Chu said the reason he dared to accept the challenge in the KMT’s darkest hour was the same reason that prompted him to enter politics 17 years ago: to ensure a better world for future generations.
Photo: CNA
Chu said he had been reluctant to consider joining the Jan. 16 race because of the pledge he made to New Taipei City residents when he announced he would run for re-election as mayor in June last year and vowed to serve out a second term.
“Nevertheless, to safeguard the KMT’s reins of government and majority in the legislature, as well as the future of the public and the Republic of China [ROC] ... I must apologize to each New Taipei City resident who supports me,” Chu said.
“I want to tell every Taiwanese and resident of the city that I am doing this because I have to protect the ROC we love, the democratic politics we have fought to preserve and our healthy democracy of checks and balances,” he said.
Should the KMT become a minority party in the legislature or gain less than one-third of the legislative seats in the Jan. 16 elections — to be held alongside the presidential vote — no one can imagine what the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might do, Chu said.
Chu said that if the KMT fails to maintain its legislative majority, the nation’s future, as well as cross-strait peace could be jeopardized.
Challenging DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to a debate on cross-strait policies, Chu said Tsai should define the “status quo” she intended to maintain.
“Does her ‘status quo’ refer to the situation maintained by the KMT based on the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus’ or the one championed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in accordance with his ‘three noes’ policy — no unification, no independence and no use of force,” Chu asked.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Chu said he would push for the reinstatement of the legislature’s power to approve the premier appointed by the president as part of the KMT’s effort to promote a Cabinet system of government.
He also vowed to deliver a national report to the legislature each year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique