Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that she is still seriously pondering whether to vie for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chair, a post that would likely be left vacant by KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) should he lose the election on Saturday next week.
Hung made the remarks during a morning interview with POP Radio yesterday, during which she was asked who would take over the helm of the KMT after the party’s anticipated defeat in the upcoming presidential and legislative elections.
“First, it depends on whether Chu, the KMT’s incumbent chairman, would step down following the race,” Hung said.
In the event that Chu loses by only 200,000 votes or the KMT manages to maintain a satisfactory number of legislative seats, some party comrades might think that Chu should remain on the post,” Hung said.
“After all, Chu has only led the KMT for a relatively short period of time and has yet to have enough chances to reform the party,” Hung said.
Chu took over the KMT’s helm in January last year, after his predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), stepped down to take responsibility for the party’s disastrous defeat in the 2014 nine-in-one elections.
Hung said the KMT’s charters favors a KMT president doubling as party chair.
“That means Ma could assume the party chairmanship after Chu’s customary resignation and hold a chairmanship election after the new president is sworn in on May 20. By then, Chu could also compete for the post if he wants to,” Hung said.
Hung said other KMT members might also be interested in the chairmanship, such as Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
She said she is still considering whether to run for the post and that she would factor in the post-election political environment and her party comrades’ expectations in her decision.
As to whether she would join Chu at a campaign event before the elections, Hung — who was replaced by Chu as the KMT’s presidential candidate in October last year — said it might be inevitable.
Hung jokingly said that it is not that she does not want to be seen together with Chu at the same campaign event, but rather because the image of her standing next to Chu might appear incongruous due to their difference in height.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS