The KMT will hold the first direct election for party chairman in its history today. The current chairman and sole candidate, Lien Chan (
To mobilize party members to vote, Lien sent every member a letter pledging to carry out party reform.
"The failure in the presidential election was the biggest frustration of both my career and the KMT's history," Lien said during a televised interview yesterday. "It also brought about a failure for the country [after the DPP government's first 10 months in office]."
Lien said that the nation was greatly disappointed in the DPP government, and that the DPP was governing "dogmatically" and risked "sinking all the passengers on the good ship `Taiwan.'"
"We cannot allow the DPP government, which has lost its direction, to `sink' in such a way that all the people perish together," Lien said.
He said that the KMT should reform itself as soon as possible in order to take on the responsibility of reversing Taiwan's decline.
"Now I will serve as a coordinator to unite the party which split during the presidential campaign, which was the key reason for the KMT's failure," Lien said. "I therefore appeal to all party members to take part in the party's democratic reform by voting in the election for chairman."
Lien pledged to lead the party in retaining its majority in the legislature after the year-end legislative election and to regain power by offering a new hope and vision to the nation.
He also refused to rule out the possibility of visiting China, noting that cross-strait relations had stalled and that dialogue between the two sides had been suspended for a year.
He said that he would like to visit China as long as the trip "lives up to the expectations and interests of the people of Taiwan."
Today's election for the party chairman is regarded as the first step in the KMT's reform process. But the new system has still been questioned as being democratic in name only.
"KMT headquarters' leaders designed the rules so that Lien would become the sole qualified candidate," said Tuan Hung-chun (
The rules stipulate that anyone who wants to run for the chairmanship must obtain the signatures of more than 3 percent of all party members in support of his or her bid. The party has about 950,000 members.
Lien succeeded former chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) last June and pledged to implement party reform under three principles -- downsizing the party bureaucracy, and making the party both democratic and transparent.
The KMT, which once boasted 2 million members, launched a membership re-registration drive last September in preparation for the direct election of the chairman, but less than 1 million people re-registered.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole