The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee yesterday accepted the Nomination and Review Committee’s nomination of Hsinchu Deputy County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) as the party’s candidate for county commissioner in the November elections.
KMT Organization and Development Department director Lee Che-hua (李哲華) rejected rumors that the party would continue to work with Republican Party Chairwoman Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), as the KMT now has its own candidate.
Yang is the preferred candidate with no political baggage, and as he is Hakka, would be a bonus for the party in Hsinchu County, which has a large Hakka population, Lee said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Addressing doubts voiced by KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), a party hopeful for Hsinchu, Lee said that the Central Standing Committee’s approval of the Hsinchu chapter’s nomination has sealed the deal.
Yang would receive the full support of the party, he said, urging all KMT members to maintain solidarity.
“We understand how Lin feels, but he has said that he would not leave the party,” Lee said, adding that he was certain the party could work things out within its system.
The KMT prefers for Lin to continue to focus his efforts in the Legislative Yuan, Lee said.
Allegations that the KMT has abandoned polls and primaries are unfounded, he said.
Polls are just one reference, and the party’s highest authority outside of its national congress, the Central Standing Committee, has decided that there would be no primaries for Hsinchu, he added.
Unlike New Taipei City and Taipei, where primaries were conducted from the very beginning, the party’s plans for Hsinchu took the form of coordination between hopefuls, Lee said.
Commenting on media reports that an unnamed individual offered to donate NT$400 million (US$13.4 million) if the KMT nominated Yang and collaborated with the Republican Party to ensure Hsu’s victory, Lee said the KMT would take legal action against anyone who seeks to slander the party with false, unsubstantiated allegations.
KMT Central Standing Committee member Chiang Shuo-ping (江碩平) said that a lack of local support for Lin led to the party’s decision to continue the coordination process to maximize its chances of winning.
Lin would win polls due to his high profile, but he does not have the hearts of local residents, Chiang said, adding that the party needs to close ranks if it wants to win in the county.
Another committee member, KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), commended KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) hard work to resolve nomination issues, but said that it could have been more prudent to find more flexible methods that would meet with the general approval of all involved.
Miscommunication could have occurred in the decisionmaking process for the nomination, which has led to less-than-satisfactory results, he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS