The goal of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) planned extraordinary party congress later this month is to galvanize a consensus within the party to help it win January’s presidential election, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
After attending a Double Ten National Day ceremony earlier in the day, Chu, who doubles as New Taipei City mayor, said at the Taipei City Hall that the agenda, the date and the location for the extraordinary party congress has not been finalized.
However, what is certain is the purpose of the meeting: To galvanize a consensus to help the party win the election, Chu said.
Chu’s remarks came after the KMT Central Standing Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution unanimously to convene an extraordinary party congress later this month to consider a proposal to replace KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
Hung, who was nominated by the party on July 19, has consistently lagged at least 20 points behind Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in most polls, and the gap has shown no signs of narrowing.
Many KMT candidates for the legislative elections, which are scheduled to be held on the same day as the presidential election, Jan. 16, fear that the weakness of Hung’s candidacy would hurt their chances, calling for another face at the top of the ticket.
Chu is expected to be drafted to replace Hung at the party congress, but when asked about the possibility of Hung as his running mate, he said it was a hypothetical question that had not been discussed within the party.
Chu said he would continue communicating with Hung, who has resisted efforts to remove her as the party’s standard-bearer, and felt confident that the issue would be satisfactorily addressed.
In response to questions on whether the KMT would cooperate with People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), Chu said he has always respected Soong, a former KMT political heavyweight.
Chu said he would discuss possible cooperation between the two parties with Soong, adding that he believes that there are many ways to do so.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS