KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday said that he would not rule out the possibility of making a second presidential bid in 2004, but added that it would still take some time "for things to evolve."
"As a member [of the KMT] I won't evade my responsibility. What I can say now is that I won't rule anything out," Lien said.
Lien made the remark while meeting with a group of KMT legislators from the Elite Alliance (
Lien asserted that the KMT "must win" the next presidential race and that it will have to offer a "competitive ticket" during the campaign if it is to achieve that goal.
The KMT chairman said that, as the presidential poll is still some 22 months away, it is inappropriate for him to say whether he will run.
"Every party has its own system and rules to make major personnel decisions. It will be better to come to a decision through the party's system," Lien said.
Lien added that what the KMT should do now is create favorable conditions for itself.
Reaffirming his desire to cooperate with the PFP, Lien said that inter-party cooperation is the what the public expects.
To prepare for the presidential election two years from now, the top priority of the two parties is to offer people a vision, according to Lien.
He said both parties should put their heads together and put forth joint platforms on issues such as the economy, social welfare, national security and cross-strait relations.
"We should let the people know what decisions they will be making with their votes," Lien said. "This will be a crucial choice that will decide whether Taiwan will continue the way it is today or whether it will experience a renaissance."
Lien said people are fed up with the DPP for making a mess of the nation's democracy and economy.
Also yesterday, the KMT released its latest TV commercial, criticizing President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration for following a "zigzag path" over the past two years rather than the "middle way" that Chen promised during the presidential campaign.
KMT spokesman Justin Chou said the DPP government has been fickle in terms of major national policies, causing social conditions and the economy to sink.
For example, Chen promised to stop participating in the DPP's affairs and become a "president for all the people," but now he is ready to assume the position of DPP chairman to try to expand his political influence, Chou said.
While pledging to safeguard freedom of speech, Chen's government has ordered searches of the offices of several news media organizations under the pretense of national security, Chou added.
As well, Chen, who yelled "long live the ROC" in front of military cadets, has also shouted "long live Taiwan independence" at an annual meeting of the pro-independence World Taiwanese Congress (
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching