Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that she would not withdraw from the election campaign, despite constant rumors about concerns within the party over her ability to conduct a successful campaign in the run-up to January’s presidential election.
With Hung’s poll numbers failing to rebound after the KMT national congress on July 19, during which Hung was officially nominated as the party’s candidate, media reports have suggested that top echelons of the KMT have been meeting secretly to discuss plans to talk Hung out of running for president.
Hung yesterday said in a television interview that “someone predicted that I would have dropped out of the primary by June 11, but I am still here.”
“I cannot say that I am not hurt [by the constant speculation], but I am used to sarcastic barbs. Surviving such rumors will show that I have the shoulders to bear responsibility,” Hung said. “I will not quit.”
She said her biggest contribution to the KMT was her signing up for the primary.
“Imagine if I did not. How would people view the party today?” she said.
Asked by TV host Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) about what aspects she thinks give her an advantage over Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Hung replied: “Sincerity, courage and resoluteness.”
“Tsai’s stance on many issues has been fickle, such as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and conscription. She also does not have the courage to face her real thoughts and the DPP’s platform, which is the reason she has been going back and forth,” Huang said.
“Take the recent issue of high-school curriculums as an example: Tsai said that she supports the curriculum guideline that centers on Taiwanese independence, but she also said that she wishes to maintain the ‘status quo’ that is based on the Constitution of Republic of China,” she said.
“I would definitely change the curriculum if I am elected,” Hung said. “The previous DPP government made the textbooks too obviously oriented toward Taiwanese independence.”
Earlier yesterday, Hung’s campaign team introduced two new spokespersons after Jack Yu (游梓翔) on Sunday said that he is to leave the post on Saturday to return to his teaching position at Shih Hsin University’s Department of Speech Communication.
Former Taipei City councilor Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) and Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) are the new members of the campaign team. Chen was formerly Overseas Community Affairs Council deputy minister and KMT spokesperson, while Hsieh now doubles as the head of the KMT’s Tainan chapter.
Chen said the party’s inquiry into her willingness to take on the role was urgent.
“I did not have much time to ponder, neither the chance to refuse,” she said.
“It is at this time, when many people are pessimistic about Hung’s election prospects, that it is all the more important for us to support her with real actions,” Chen added.
Hsieh said many in southern Taiwan feel bad about the mudslinging that Hung has been subjected to.
Yu denied that he was “jumping ship,” saying: “I will still offer my help and advice; you will still see me often on the ship, rowing and adding coal.”
In addition to Chen and Hsieh, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science professor Philip Yang (楊永明) and two young KMT party officials in their 20s, Lee Chang-chi (李昶志) and Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), are also spokespersons for Hung.
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