Minister Without Portfolio Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) yesterday filed an application for party membership with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) amid speculation about a bid for the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election.
Yang, a former Kaohsiung county commissioner and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, visited KMT headquarters yesterday morning and handed his application to KMT Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權).
He also met with KMT Organization and Development Committee director Su Chun-pin (蘇俊賓).
Yang said he had joined the KMT about 37 years ago as a student and later left because he did not agree with the party’s authoritarian rule at the time.
“The political environment has changed over the years and so has the situation in Taiwan. The KMT became an opposition party for eight years before regaining power and it is a localized party now,” he said.
He also lauded the KMT’s cross-strait policies as being pragmatic, while declining to confirm whether he had joined the party in an attempt to run in the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election next year.
Yang ran unsuccessfully in the municipality’s mayoral race in 2010, when Kaohsiung city and county were merged. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), then the incumbent, won the DPP’s nomination for the post over Yang, prompting Yang to quit the party and run as an independent candidate.
Later at the Executive Yuan yesterday, Yang again evaded questions about the chances of him running in the election.
“There is still some time left until the election. It’s not necessary to make me the only target [for mayoral candidate]. Actually, I am really good at carrying a sedan chair. If the party finds a suitable candidate who has a good chance to win the election, I could be a good porter,” Yang said.
Asked if he would be the one to sit in the sedan chair, Yang said he would rather answer that question in the future.
Yang said he agreed to invitations to rejoin the KMT, one of which was extended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), because he has found that he has similar ideas to Ma and that he agrees with the policies of the Ma administration.
Ma’s “three noes” policy — no unification, no independence and no use of force — and his adherence to the Republic of China are the best strategies to steer the nation, Yang said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS