The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday decided to stick to its usual timeline for nominating its presidential candidate even though distraught party members have urged the party to step up the pace.
At the meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee yesterday, 11 members, led by Lin Rong-te (林榮德), appealed to the party, which has yet to initiate its presidential nomination process, to move the process forward.
KMT spokesperson Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) told reporters after the meeting that the proposal was not adopted by the committee as KMT Chairman and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the party would continue the process at its own pace.
“Chairman Chu said that the party would not unveil its presidential candidate later than usual, which falls between April and the middle of June,” Lin Yi-hua said.
Lin Yi-hua said that Chu did sympathize with party members about their concern that the party is making a late start compared with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Although the DPP has already produced a presumptive presidential nominee, the DPP has not yet gone through its primary process either, Lin Yi-hua quoted Chu as saying.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is running in the party’s primary uncontested. She registered as a candidate on Feb. 14 and is to be nominated on April 15.
Earlier yesterday, Legislative Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) renewed efforts to urge KMT members interested in running for the presidency to declare their candidacy as soon as possible and hinted that she might throw her hat into the ring if no one announces their intention to run.
“At a time when there is a spirit of defeatism among party members, it is more necessary than ever for someone to step forward and put on a brave face,” Hung said during a radio interview.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
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