Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) has decided to seek re-election as party leader late this year. He could potentially face challenges from candidates including former KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) and former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
A possible new alliance has lately emerged, as Chu is said to have made a concession to Chiang by giving up his chairmanship bid, so they can work together to consolidate party support ahead of the local elections next year. The two could then team up in the primary to win the party’s nomination for a “Chu-Chiang” ticket in the 2024 presidential election.
Speculation is rife within the party about a Chu-Chiang ticket, and it cannot be ruled out that internal rivals are trying to sabotage the alliance by leaking the news. Not long ago, the KMT leadership wanted to invite Lien to serve concurrently as the party’s secretary-general, but when the news was leaked, Lien was said to be unhappy, with some believing that the exposure was intentional.
The KMT is now closely watching if Lien would make a chairmanship bid, and it is clear that there is still much internal debate about a Chu-Chiang alliance.
As the KMT’s pro-China camp is eager to challenge a Chu-Chiang alliance, some are waiting for New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi’s (侯友宜) next step. Hou is turning 64 this year, and if his team believes that he cannot afford to skip the 2024 presidential race because of his age, the mayor of the nation’s largest city would become a competitor that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cannot ignore.
As such, Hou might be both a partner and competitor to other KMT leaders. In particular, interaction between Hou and Chu might be awkward, as Hou was Chu’s deputy mayor. If Hou decides to seek re-election next year, it would be deemed inappropriate for him to run for president halfway through his second term. However, if he decides to run for president, he would need to announce whether he would seek re-election by the end of this year or early next year. Following Han’s performance and recall in Kaohsiung, it is a moral imperative for all politicians.
From the perspective of the KMT leadership, the most important tasks this year are the push for a referendum on US pork imports containing ractopamine in August and the restoration of the party’s relationship with Washington under US President Joe Biden. This is also why the KMT is planning to reopen its representative office there.
The contradiction between these two tasks shows that the KMT is hoping to maintain a good relationship with both Washington and Beijing, as the US-China dispute continues. No one in the party elite knows how to make this dream a reality.
It seems that the KMT is far from the kind of opposition party that would be capable of deepening Taiwan’s democracy, and maintaining checks and balances. This is also the party’s Achilles’ heel, as it would be difficult for any newly formed alliances within the party to synchronize their views on these issues.
Tzou Jiing-wen is the editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Translated by Eddy Chang
Fear is a powerful emotion. Major media outlets play on fear to draw in viewers and hold their attention. Book publishers relish opportunities to release titles that grab attention. For example, I once was told — semi-jokingly — that if I wanted to sell a lot of copies of my books, I should put a mushroom cloud over a picture of Taipei on the book cover. I declined that advice. But in the process, I was reminded that fear sells. When fear intrudes on policymaking it can cloud sound judgments. There is a tension in government, though, because intelligence agencies are
In 2010, while speaking to a Taiwanese group in California, I was asked during a question-and-answer session: “What do you think of Confucius Institutes?” Confucius Institutes had been gaining popularity at the time, but despite that, my answer was quick and to the point. “Beware of them, they are Trojan horses.” Few grasped the implications, yet now, more than a decade later, the US Government Accountability Office has finally woken up to the danger they pose. There are barely five institutes left where once there were more than 100. A few years later, in a different discussion with Pavel Suian, a former Romanian
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
Midnight on Monday marked the 27th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty. Under the terms of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, an international treaty lodged at the UN, China promised that Hong Kongers’ way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years and the territory would have “a high degree of autonomy” under the so-called “one country, two systems” framework. Beijing’s crushing of the 2019-2020 anti-extradition law protests and imposition of the National Security Law in 2020, overriding even the pretense that Hong Kong’s autonomy would be respected, is a profound reminder to Taiwanese —