The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) biggest challenge is itself and it should not drag the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) into its internal affairs, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Friday.
Ko, chairman of the TPP, made the remarks to the media during a visit to Estonia.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) on Friday said in Taipei that the KMT’s short-term challenge would not be the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but rather the TPP, which would compete with the KMT to be the second-largest party in the Legislative Yuan.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei City Government
The TPP gained five legislator-at-large seats by winning 11.2 percent of party votes in the Jan. 11 legislative elections, becoming the nation’s third-largest party, while the KMT won 38 seats and the DPP secured an absolute majority of 61 seats.
If the TPP’s five new legislators perform better than the KMT’s 38 lawmakers, the KMT would face greater competition, Lee said, expressing concern that young people would choose to join the TPP over the KMT.
“The largest challenge to the KMT is itself,” Ko said. “I often say that one’s greatest enemy is oneself, so the KMT should not drag the TPP into the problems it is facing today.”
“The KMT has been around for more than 100 years, but I am afraid that it will have to work a little harder,” he said, adding that he believes the KMT is facing a crisis and it should resolve internal issues on its own, and it definitely has nothing to do with the TPP.
Ko on Friday visited the e-Estonia Briefing Centre in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and listened to reports about e-governance by the Estonian Information System Authority and the e-Governance Academy.
He then commented on the Estonian government’s e-Estonia movement, which aims to help citizens interact with the state through electronic solutions, and commented on Taiwanese political issues.
The critical part of an automated system is “e-identification” — how to accurately and reliably identify a user when they are accessing services through a smartcard, computer or smartphone, Ko said, adding that his administration would incorporate the lessons learned from Estonia when improving the next version of the Taipei Card.
Taipei Department of Legal Affairs officials accompanied him on the trip, because they need to learn how to prevent personal data breaches when pushing e-governance in Taipei, Ko said, adding that the visit is also important because it allows the city government to establish direct contact with Estonia for further information exchanges.
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