The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) human resources management began seeing overwhelming changes within one month of Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) taking the helm of the party, seemingly challenging the decisions of his predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), party sources said.
Chu was elected chairman in January, after Ma stepped down following the party’s rout in the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections last year.
The sources said Chu’s personnel policy calls for the abolition of KMT headquarters’ political research center and information center, placing the units’ duties into the National Research Institute’s remit.
Institute director Jimmy Wu (吳肇銘), a trusted confidante of Chu, is to spearhead research and development, the sources said.
The institute previously encompassed the KMT’s department of youth affairs, research division and education and consultation division, the sources said. Now it is to include a statistics center, technology service center, general planning center and talent-fostering center, along with the department of youth affairs and the KMT’s youth group, they said.
Rumored changes to the Culture and Communications Committee would eliminate the “new media division” established during the 2012 presidential election campaign and the international affairs division that was set up after last year’s Sunflower movement, the sources said.
Affairs that were previously handled by the eliminated divisions are to be merged into the international information and events center, with a portion of the international division combined into the party’s Organizational Development Committee’s overseas department, which would be renamed the overseas and international affairs department, the sources said.
The international division has been without a boss since its former head, Charles Chen (陳以信), was appointed Presidential Office spokesman, the sources said.
The international information and events center will focus on helping the party understand international affairs and promote the KMT overseas, the sources said.
The sources said former minister of foreign affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) is likely to be named Chu’s adviser on international affairs.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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