The KMT's election campaign heated up yesterday as the party's Taipei chapter launched the "KMT Youth Corps," with the aim of promoting its candidates for the December elections.
Addressing the 600 young people perched on motor scooters outside the Taipei City Council yesterday morning, KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said that young people are playing an important role in the reform of the KMT.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"They're valuable assets and the driving force behind the party's reform and resurrection," he said.
Members of the youth corps will campaign on their scooters for the party.
Wu added that Taiwanese people had come to understand over the past year and a half since the DPP came to power that Taiwan cannot move forward without the KMT.
"Only the new KMT can lead the nation out of the current economic and social hardship," he said.
Wu also called on the public to support the KMT's legislative candidates.
"None of the KMT candidates nominated for the year-end legislative elections has any connection with black gold politics and they therefore deserve the people's trust," he said.
The party has nominated a total of eight candidates to run in Taipei City constituencies.
The four candidates nominated for the city's northern constituency are deputy chief of the party's cultural affairs department, Tsai Cheng-yuan (
The other four, nominated for the southern constituency, are incumbent lawmakers Apollo Chen (陳學聖), Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基) and Tina Pan (潘維剛); and John Chang (章孝嚴), a former KMT secretary-general and foreign minister.
After some candidates delivered pep talks, the eight candidates were presented with a giant mock check, symbolizing their campaign promises and encouraging them to be focused, professional and disciplined in the election campaign.
Wu also presented flags to the 12 team captains leading the scooter riders, symbolizing the beginning of the party's campaign activities.
The teams, which are comprised of both KMT members and non-members, were recruited from the Taipei chapter of the KMT Youth Commission.
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
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting