Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) blasted the party yesterday for disqualifying him from the Hualien County commissioner primary and accused KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) of being behind the move.
Fu alleged that Wu was behind the party's decision to disqualify him from the primary before the party's Central Integrity Committee had held a meeting to discuss his eligibility.
Fu voiced his dissatisfaction after the party on Wednesday ignored the decision of its Hualien branch's integrity committee on Tuesday and stopped Fu from taking part in the primary.
The KMT's Organization and Development Committee contacted the local branch and said Fu, who has been found guilty in two different cases, is unqualified to run in the race for Hualien County commissioner.
The decision was made after a meeting between Wu, KMT Organization and Development Committee director Huang Chao-yuan (黃昭元) and Evaluation and Discipline Committee head Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛) on Wednesday morning.
Fu said the party's decision violated “procedural justice.”
He declined to answer, however, when asked whether he would consider running as an independent.
Fu and four KMT members —Hualien County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chi-ming (張志明), Hualien County Council Speaker Yang Wen-chi (楊文值), Hualien City Mayor Tsai Chi-ta (蔡啟塔) and former Hualien County Agricultural Development Office director Tu Li-hua (杜麗華) — have registered to run in the primary.
Former minister of health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) also resigned on Monday to join the race.
Fu was indicted on Feb. 2, 2000, for illegally speculating in Taiwan Pineapple Group shares in 1998.
In 2003, the Taipei District Court sentenced Fu to six years in jail, fined him NT$150 million (US$4.5 million) and deprived him of civil rights for four years.
Fu filed an appeal with the Taiwan High Court, which sentenced him on June 11 to four years in jail and a fine of NT$20 million. Fu appealed again.
Meanwhile, two KMT legislators expressed concern that the primary could lead to a split within the party.
KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said the way the party handled the primary was flawed and should be reviewed.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to explain why he had allowed Yeh to compete in the primary.
“Otherwise, this [infighting] may damage party unity,” Chiu said.
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:
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