Whoever wins in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) next chairperson election will have the party’s full and united support, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said yesterday, dismissing speculation that she is worried about the increasingly competitive race.
Hung made the remarks while visiting a group of KMT staffers who have camped outside the office of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee for 25 consecutive days to protest against what they called the committee’s illegal handling of the party’s assets.
“I believe every candidate in the election should have faith in themselves, and should not care too much about the outcome. We will support whoever wins,” Hung said, adding that the KMT would have no future if it does not unite.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Asked if she thinks the election, scheduled for May 20, has seen too much competition too soon, with two other candidates having announced their bids, Hung said she had been too preoccupied with party affairs to feel a thing.
Hung added that the party’s planned structural reforms, next year’s local elections, and fundraising take precedence over the chairpersonship race.
Hung’s comments came after KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) announced their bids for the leadership race on Saturday and yesterday morning respectively.
Hung also announced recently that she would seek re-election as KMT chief.
Hau yesterday took to Facebook to call for an end to the KMT’s longstanding one-person rule culture.
“Following the KMT’s defeat in the 2014 nine-in-one elections ... an op-ed published by the Chinese-language United Daily News included some penetrating views. It stated that the KMT’s inability to promptly respond to changes in public opinion is due to the party’s long-term overt dependence on orders from and the opinions of the party leader,” Hau said.
No party leader is omnipotent and has a comprehensive grasp of the party, the nation and society, Hau wrote, adding that the problem has plagued not only the KMT, but also the Democratic Progressive Party.
Calling for a transformation from one-person rule to collective leadership, Hau said the change would make the KMT more tolerant and allow it to tap into each member’s strong suits and re-establish contact with different social groups.
“That is the only way we can narrow the gap between the opinions of the KMT and those of the public,” he said.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS