Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said that the party is to hold an extraordinary meeting today to adjust its list of legislator-at-large nominees for the Jan. 11 elections amid criticism over its rankings.
Furthermore, his place on the list would be moved down, Wu said on the sidelines of a ceremony of the Taiwan International Invention Award Winners’ Association in Taipei.
The KMT Central Standing Committee on Wednesday approved a 34-person list of at-large nominees.
Photo: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Taipei Times
Since its release, the list has been widely criticized for placing Wu in 10th place, which would almost certainly guarantee him a seat, as the party is expected to garner enough votes for the first 14 or 15 names.
It has also been criticized for including mostly older party members and several pro-unification figures, including former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was placed eighth, and retired lieutenant general and 800 Heroes for the Republic of China Association president Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), who was fourth.
KMT Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said the list showed that the party is unwilling to engage the younger generation, and is only interested in siding with conservative and extremely reactionary groups.
“The list shows no political ideals, no momentum and no energy,” Hsu wrote on Facebook.
KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) expressed concern that the list might cause the party to lose support.
The list “has disappointed Taiwanese and will cause us to lose votes,” Ko wrote on Facebook.
In Taoyuan, about a dozen KMT Taoyuan City councilors and Central Committee members held a news conference urging the KMT headquarters to move Wu Den-yih down the list and include more members who can represent the younger generation and minority groups.
If the party does not adjust its at-large nominees at the meeting today, Taoyuan City Councilor Huang Ching-ping (黃敬平), who is a member of the committee, said that he and many other committee members would veto their nominations at a committee meeting tomorrow.
KMT Taichung City Councilor Huang Hsin-hui (黃馨慧), Tainan City Councilor Tsai Yu-hui (蔡育輝), Kaohsiung City councilors Huang Shao-ting (黃紹庭), Huang Hsiang-shu (黃香菽) and Chen Ruo-tsui (陳若翠), as well as other committee members, held news conferences in their cities urging the party to adjust the list.
Former premier Simon Chang (張善政), the KMT’s vice presidential candidate, said the list was “unable to meet people’s expectations.”
“There is also the option of the People First Party,” Chang told reporters in Taipei.
“Just do not vote for the Democratic Progressive Party,” he added.
Asked about Chang’s remarks, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, said that Chang has been an independent and is probably unfamiliar with the way in which political parties operate.
Earlier yesterday, Wu Den-yih had told party members protesting outside the headquarters that the list could not be changed.
That Wu Den-yih placed himself 10th shows that the KMT has no confidence that it can win more than half of the seats in the legislature, Taipei City Councilor Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said, urging the chairman to move down to 15th.
“I would feel bad if I was at the top of the list, but in reality I had hoped to be placed eighth,” Wu Den-yih said.
While KMT chairpersons in the past ran for president, “considering my experience, would it have been too much even if I had sought the presidency?” he asked.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
‘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)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary