Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday pledged to hold a fair and just KMT chairperson election, urging party members to subject the next race to the most stringent scrutiny.
Hung, who is on a seven-day visit to the US as part of her efforts to raise funds for the cash-strapped KMT, made the remarks during a forum with Taiwanese expats in San Francisco on Saturday.
“We must hold this [KMT chairperson] election in the most fair, just and open manner possible. Hopefully through this race, we could create an electoral culture of sportsmanship and fair play within the party,” Hung said.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
Hung said she hoped that each candidate running for the party’s leadership in the May 20 race could clearly demonstrate their ideals and cross-strait policy direction, allowing party members to make the best judgements possible.
As the incumbent leader of the KMT, Hung vowed to ensure fairness in the election and urged all party members to scrutinize the race under the strictest standard.
Hung’s comments came amid allegations that some of the candidates have sought to increase their chances of victory by recruiting “dummy party members.”
So far, four people have thrown their hats into the ring: Hung, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co general manager Han Kuo-yo (韓國瑜).
The KMT, as of Monday last week, had 887,861 members, of whom only 226,783 are eligible to vote in the chairperson election, KMT data showed.
Expressing gratitude for Taiwanese expats’ consistent support of the KMT even during the party’s difficult times, Hung said most of the people she had encountered in the US had expressed their support for and expectations of the party.
“Each and every comrade understands the predicament the KMT is facing right now and are willing to send coal to the party during snowy weather. I am deeply touched by their adamant support of the KMT,” Hung said.
The party has been in dire financial straits since the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, established by the Executive Yuan in August last year, began efforts to recover party assets illegally acquired by the KMT during its party-state rule.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS