Hundreds of supporters of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday held a rally in front of National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei — the venue of the party’s extraordinary party congress — with some protesters threatening to storm the building.
Hung’s supporters, many of whom were wearing red and waving Republic of China (ROC) flags and banners, started to gather outside the hall well before the scheduled 2pm start time of the congress and shouted their support for Hung, calling the proceedings “illegitimate.”
Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰), the head of Hung’s “out-of-the-party supporters’ club,” said before the vote that they were against the KMT’s use of an “illegal” procedure to replace Hung.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“Hung is the candidate chosen in accordance with the party’s due process. The KMT can replace Hung only if she has committed a crime or issued bribes,” he said.
“However, Hung has done neither,” he said, adding that the KMT’s move to replace Hung is tantamount to “fraud,” as many made donations to the party only because Hung was elected as its presidential candidate.
“We would encourage Hung to take legal action to secure her right to run in the presidential election,” Lin said.
“If a lawsuit is considered not quick enough to be effective, we would then call on the intelligentsia, swing voters and deep-blue voters not to vote, and allow the KMT to collapse,” he added.
At about 3pm, after Hung and the top echelons of the KMT had finished their speeches, calling for solidarity — with KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) speech met by supporters watching a live video feed outside with shouts of “filthy” and calls for him to step down — Lin called on the scores of supporters sitting before the screen to follow his lead and “storm the hall.”
Other rally leaders immediately tried to calm the crowd by saying that Hung would soon come out to address them, and begged angry protesters to sit down, which they did.
“You all know my history [of using force against the establishment]. During the dangwai [outside the party] period, I burned down a police precinct to protest the KMT’s vote rigging,” Lin had earlier told the crowd.
A supporter panned the KMT for using the same criticisms of Hung as the Democratic Progressive Party by attacking her stance on the cross-strait relationship and her “one China, same interpretation” and “ultimate unification,” comments.
“There are people saying that the younger generation are ‘natural independence supporters.’ Why? Is it because the KMT is too weak?” he said.
“Look around you my friends, are we young?” he added.
Protesters said they would boycott the KMT in presidential and legislative elections in January, but Hung, who came outside to address the gathering after her replacement was approved by a show of hands at the congress, urged them to continue to stand by the party.
“The KMT needs different voices and that is why we should stay in the party, to reform it,” Hung said, amid sobs and calls from the crowd urging her to run for party chairperson.
A group of protesters gathered to shout denunciations of the KMT and Chu, who is also New Taipei City mayor.
The Social Democratic Party and Green Party New Taipei City legislative candidates condemned Chu’s decision to run for president.
“Are New Taipei City residents not also your responsibility? You apologized in the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting, but should you not be apologizing to us as well?” they said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)