Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and urged the party to include a debate and cellphone surveys in its presidential nomination process.
Following a closed-door meeting of about an hour, Gou told reporters that he had offered three suggestions to Wu regarding the primary process.
The primary should be held in a fair and transparent manner, and all of the candidates must follow the regulations, Gou said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
He hopes the KMT would use cellphone surveys to help determine its candidate, and it could decide the precise percentage for cellphone and landline surveys using the Democratic Progressive Party’s primary regulations as a reference, he said.
“I believe that young people should be included in the process,” he said, adding that most of them use cellphones.
He also hopes the KMT would hold debates for all of the primary candidates, at which they could present their platforms and answer questions from fellow party members, the media and members of the public, he said.
There should be at least three such events, in northern, central and southern Taiwan, each lasting at least three hours, he said.
Asked if he would consider running for vice president if he lost the primary, Gou said: “I am not the ideal candidate for a vice president, as I am more suited to being a decisionmaker.”
However, he would help whoever wins the primary, he said.
“People can say whatever they want, but I am not doing this for money. I am doing this for the future of young people,” Gou said.
Asked if he and Wu talked about “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means” after his remarks on “two Chinas” drew criticism from former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), Gou said that they did.
“This issue has caused trouble for years and it is not something I can briefly explain here, but I will definitely be ready to offer a clear explanation during my platform presentation,” he said.
Asked if he would find it acceptable if primary candidates did not take part in a platform presentation and debate, Gou said that as the party sets the rules, “I am not qualified to answer that question.”
Gou was the last of five party hopefuls Wu met to discuss the primary. Since earlier this month, he has met with Chu, Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Sun Yat-sen University president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中).
Regulations on the primary process are expected to be set down at a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee tomorrow.
Wu also met with Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on April 30, although Han has not yet explicitly expressed interest in running for president.
However, Han yesterday told EBC News that he would work from Kaohsiung if he were elected president, a comment that some said is close to declaring his intention to run.
Han remains the KMT’s most popular politician. He had previously said that he was reluctant to participate in the race, because he has only served as Kaohsiung mayor since Dec. 25 last year.
In his meeting with Wu, he said he would respect any arrangements made by KMT headquarters or its Central Standing Committee, including pitting him against other aspirants in a public opinion poll.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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