Nine KMT lawmakers and party heavyweights yesterday told journalists they may leave the KMT fold and serve as independents or join other political parties.
Other party members who did not want to be named said they may also follow suit. The lawmakers' departure could cost the KMT its lock on the Legislative Yuan. The KMT occupies 115 of the 225 seats in the legislature.
"I have observed all three major political parties since last March's presidential election, and they don't match my ideals," said KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
"But I don't like the fact that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) still listens to only a few members," Huang added, saying that Lien was too far removed from the grassroots membership.
Huang said that she had discussed the KMT's development with her father -- former president of the Control Yuan, Huang Tsun-chiu (黃尊秋) -- many times before he died, and has now decided to leave the party.
Huang said she would not join any party for the time being, but Wu Ching-chih (吳清池), another disillusioned KMT lawmaker, said yesterday that he planned to run as a People First Party candidate in December's legislative elections.
"Other party lawmakers also intend to leave," Wu said.
Liu Ping-wei (
Hsu Den-koun (
In addition, former minister of the interior Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) and former party spokesman Huang Hui-chen (黃輝珍) recently both expressed their disappointment with the KMT's new platform.
"The party is betraying Lee Teng-hui's line, which still represents the mainstream thought of Taiwanese," Huang Chu-wen said.
KMT leaders said that they would maintain communications with the wavering lawmakers to persuade them into staying.
"As far as I know, only six party lawmakers have yet to re-register, and they have different reasons for considering not re-registering but we will try to satisfy them to keep them within our ranks," said director-general of the KMT's Organizational Development Committee, Chao Shou-po (
Meanwhile, Lien Chan said at the party's Central Standing Committee weekly meeting yesterday that he was moved to learn that more than 850,000 people have completed membership re-registration procedures.
The KMT, which once boasted two million members, carried out a re-registration drive between Sept. 1 and Dec.31, after its humiliating defeat in the presidential election last year.
The party's central headquarters has extended the deadline of the drive to Jan. 31 to give supporters more time to re-register.
In a related development yesterday, the KMT was preparing to welcome back one of its veteran members, Chen Li-an (
Chen, who quit the party to run independently in the 1996 presidential election, took the initiative to rejoin the party by contacting Lien to express his wishes.
The KMT attaches great importance to his return, and director-general Chao cut short his attendance at the KMT meeting to call on Chen and to bring him his re-registration forms.
According to Chao, Chen said he wants to return because he believes Taiwan and the KMT need him now.
Chen is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow to explain his motives in person.
Another KMT veteran, Lin Yang-kang (
Lin and former premier Hau Pei-tsun (
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