Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday released the party’s list of legislator-at-large nominees, saying the lineup demonstrated his efforts to allow more professionals and new faces to represent the KMT.
“More than half of the so-called ‘safe seats’ on the entire list are occupied by individuals with certain expertise and capabilities. Hopefully, this effort can give more specialists and upcoming talentsthe opportunity to represent the KMT in the legislature,” Chu said on the sidelines of a forum to promote his housing policy in Taipei yesterday morning, an hour before the KMT headquarters released the list.
Dismissing critics who lambasted the list, part of which was leaked on Thursday evening, as a continuation of the party’s patronage system, Chu said he would humbly accept all criticism against the list, but his determination to usher in reforms would remain unwavering.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
The process of reform would undoubtedly be difficult and might even be filled with dangers, Chu said.
“Nevertheless, please have faith in my determination in implementing reforms. Changes might not come quickly, but I will do my utmost to fulfill the goal,” Chu said.
The KMT estimates it could garner sufficient votes in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections to secure legislative seats for the first 12 people on the list of 34.
As widely predicted, the top spot is taken by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who has held the speakership for nearly 17 years, since February 1999.
The speaker is followed by Tamkang University dean of student affairs Ko Chih-en (柯志恩); Kaohsiung Medical University vice president Chen Yi-Ming (陳宜民); Taiwan New Immigrant Development and Exchange Association director-general Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬), who is a Cambodian immigrant spouse; TEDxTaipei cofounder Jason Hsu (許毓仁) and Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗).
Also on the “safe list” are — in order of ranking — KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順); former Taoyuan County commissioner John Wu (吳志揚); former KMT legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善), Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi’s (傅崑萁) wife, Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚); Presidential Office Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) and KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏).
In an apparent attempt by the KMT to reach out to the younger generation, Chu’s campaign office spokesperson Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), a 26-year-old graduate National Chengchi University’s postgraduate program in political science, is 17th on the list.
Three members of the KMT Youth Corp also made the list: 31-year-old Lee Cheng-hao (李正皓) at No. 31, 25-year-old Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) at No. 33; and 22-year-old Hsiao Ching-yan (蕭敬嚴) at No. 34.
The nominee lineup conforms to Chu’s previously announced plan to give the safe seats on the list to three groups of people: the future choice for legislative speakership, professionals in specific fields and the KMT’s reserved talents for the 2018 mayoral and commissioner race.
The list was sent to the KMT’s Central Standing Committee for review at yesterday’s meeting, during which dozens of committee members voiced their concerns about the selection of the nominees.
The party’s 211-seat Central Committee is due to vote on the 34 nominees today.
Those who receive disapproval from more than half of the committee members at today’s the meeting would see their nomination annulled.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華), who 14th on the list, said the nominees would be required to sign two affidavits after their nomination was passed by the Central Committee.
“One of them asks the candidates to pledge support for legislative reforms, while the other requires them to join the 2018 mayoral and commissioner elections should they be called upon by party headquarters. Those who refuse to comply would be stripped of their party membership,” Lin said.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying
RSS