Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday made it official: He has no intention of running for president.
As someone with more than four decades of experience in politics, if he wanted to make a run, he would have announced it on Nov. 24 last year after the party won mayoral and commissioner elections in 15 of the nation’s 22 cities and counties, he told the KMT Central Standing Committee at its weekly meeting.
“The reason I did not do that was because I have no such intention,” he said.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
As chairman “his only goal” is to find a presidential candidate with “impeccable integrity, skills and experience and the greatest chance to win the election,” so that the KMT would regain power and bring the Republic of China (ROC) back to a bright path, he said.
He called for party solidarity and said that the KMT would aim to win at least 60 of the 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan.
KMT spokesman Ouyang Long (歐陽龍) said after the committee meeting that party officials would soon arrange for Wu to meet with potential candidates for next year’s presidential election: Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
Before the meeting, committee member Vincent Hsu (徐正文) and a dozen KMT members gathered outside the meeting room to urge the Central Standing Committee to bring forward the date of the party’s annual national congress to next month to discuss enlisting Han to run and nominate him without a primary.
A petition for such a move that he launched has won support from KMT members in 18 cities and counties, Hsu said.
The proposal represents “the voice of lower-ranked party members, KMT Central Committee members and Han’s supporters,” he said.
Central Standing Committee member Lee Chao-ping (李昭平) agreed to put forward the proposal during the meeting.
However, Ouyang told reporters after the meeting that the proposal had not been put forward for discussion because it contravened KMT regulations.
Party regulations state that members must be informed of the date and agenda of a national convention at least two months in advance, KMT deputy spokesman Hsiao Ching-yan (蕭敬嚴) said.
The next national congress is scheduled for July and cannot be moved forward any earlier than June, he said.
While regulations allow extraordinary national congresses to be held, the Central Committee must approve such a decision or it must be proposed by more than half of the party’s local chapters, he said.
“Whether that is necessary must be carefully considered,” Hsiao said, adding that the primary schedule has not been changed.
Applications for the primary would be accepted next month, with the primary scheduled for June and the nomination of the primary winner would be confirmed by the national congress the following month, he said.
The schedule could be adjusted if necessary, Ouyang said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party has yet to decide on its candidate and there could be candidates from other parties.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS