Minister Without Portfolio David Chung (
"The KMT believes only in advantages and disadvantages, not right and wrong," he said at a press conference yesterday.
Chung said he had considered leaving the party and the government for quite some time.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"The last straw ... was the raid on Liu Sung-fan's (
Liu, who is a former legislative speaker and now a campaign official for independent presidential candidate James Soong (
Taichung District Court Judge Chuang Shen-yuan (莊深淵) ordered a raid on Liu's house last week on suspicion that he had been involved in illegal financial deals with a troubled Taichung-based conglomerate.
"I don't know whether Liu has broken the law. "What I do know, however, is that he would have still been enjoying a good reputation and respect had he stayed within the KMT and backed KMT candidates, even if he had broken the law," Chung said.
It was widely anticipated Chung would announce his support for Soong yesterday.
The KMT said Chung's withdrawal from the party was a calculated political move that would have only a minor impact on the outcome of the election.
As a high rank official both in government and once in the KMT, Chung's sudden withdrawal only 23 days before the election raised eyebrows in political circles.
Chung, who previously had been deputy secretary-general of the KMT and the secretary-general of the party's Taiwan Provincial Committee, yesterday also admitted to "feeling guilty" about some jobs he had done in political interests of the party while serving as a high ranking party official.
But he declined to specify what he had done.
He said that it is painful to watch and participate in the KMT's injustice, and he could not stand it any longer.
"In the past, some people followed the party's orders and did some things to keep the party in power -- some of these things might have been wrong," he said.
Asked repeatedly if he would support Soong, Chung said that he could not directly answer the question, and he would take time to consider his next step.
KMT spokesman Huang Hwei-chen (
"Through these occasional defections, [the Soong camp] intends to propagate the false image that they are strong."
Former KMT heavyweights Liu Sung-fan and the former minister of justice Liao Cheng-hao (
KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan's (
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia