The nomination of a suitable candidate for the Yunlin county by-election is proving a huge headache for KMT officials, with local factional interests blocking them at every turn.
Following Sunday's surprise announcement by Taipei judge Wang Pei-chih (王培智) that he would not to accept the party nomination, KMT officials have been desperately trying to secure a candidate for the Oct. 16 by-election.
According to a KMT source, the frontrunner for the position is the deputy director-general of National Police Administration (NPA) Wang Chun (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday, Johnson Chen (
He said he had spent more than two hours with Wang on Sunday to convince him to stay in the race.
"Since Wang has now declined the nomination, we're being forced to make other arrangements," Chen said.
Chen said the party was looking for a candidate that had both the support of local factional leaders in Yunlin, and could leap straight into the by-election race.
Chen admitted that the NPA deputy director-general Wang Chun was highly recommended by party heavyweights.
Legislator Hsu Shu-po (
"Whether I support Wang Chun or not mainly depends on the KMT's sincerity," he said.
A KMT source said yesterday that it appeared the factions would allow Wang to be nominated because he is not aligned with any one faction. His appointment may be an acceptable compromise, the source said.
The KMT official said that among the five legislators from Yunlin who had showed interest in the by-election race, each one had to be struck off the list because of their alliances with individual power bases.
The DPP's director of organizational department, Jimmy Kuo (
"They would rather hand the seat to their enemy than their comrades. Because they are so frightened if they fail to keep their position, their own faction will be swallowed up," Kuo said.
The KMT official agreed, saying that factions now determined many of the party's decisions, including Sunday's selection of Wang Pei-chih.
"Among the five legislators, if Hsu had won the support of at least three of them, then we would have considered nominating him. But unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way," Chen said.
For this reason, he said, the KMT had been compelled to nominate the inexperienced Wang.
Speaking yesterday on his decision to decline the post, Wang said he had neither enough time, money, or factional support to win the by-election.
According to party insiders yesterday, it appeared Wang Chun was also considering accepting the nomination.
Officials said that Wang had initially refused a nomination last week during a meeting with KMT secretary-general John Chang (
Chen said that if Wang Chun refused again, the KMT chairman for Yunlin county, Chang Cheng-hsiung, (
A final decision is expected at the KMT's Central Standing Committee tomorrow.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS