The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would decide whether to improve or abandon the so-called “1992 consensus” after considering the opinions of party members and the public, Acting KMT Secretary-General William Tseng (曾銘宗) said yesterday.
While many young party members have called for a revision of the KMT’s cross-strait policy, which is based on the so-called “1992 consensus,” whether the party should improve upon the concept or abandon it altogether is not up to the KMT chairperson and a handful of members, Tseng said at KMT headquarters in Taipei.
Before making a decision on the issue, the party must consider the opinions of all its members and those of the 23 million Taiwanese, he said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“The KMT hopes to reflect the voice of the public,” Tseng said.
Tseng and KMT Central Standing Committee member Lin Rong-te (林榮德) on Wednesday were selected to be the party’s acting secretary-general and acting chairman respectively after former KMT chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) stepped down earlier that day to shoulder responsibility for the party’s defeats in last Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
A new party chairperson and Central Standing Committee are to be elected on March 7.
During the transition period, the KMT would be simultaneously preparing for the elections and promoting reforms, Tseng said.
After some party members proposed holding forums to form a consensus about the party’s new direction or establishing special committees to lead reform efforts, Tseng said that the KMT is reviewing those suggestions.
“The KMT has no time to waste and will very soon propose strategies and methods for reforming the party,” he said. “We will not let our party members, Republic of China citizens and everyone else down.”
The KMT Central Standing Committee on Wednesday is expected to approve a new list of members, he said, adding that some members who had resigned would be urged to remain in their positions.
The members who stepped down with Wu included KMT vice chairmen Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) and Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), vice secretary-general Tu Chien-teh (杜建德), Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展), Culture and Communications Committee director-general Cheng Mei-hua (程美華) and deputy secretary-general Alex Tsai (蔡正元).
KMT New Taipei City chapter head Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) and Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹) also resigned following last Saturday’s elections.
The KMT is to accept registrations to run for chairperson on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.
Under the party’s regulations, to qualify as a candidate a party member must collect signatures from at least 3 percent of KMT members before Feb. 4.
Those who have openly announced they plan to run include National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) and Blue Sky Action Alliance convener Wu Chih-chang (武之璋).
The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon