The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was scrambling to find a new candidate for the Yunlin County commissioner election yesterday after Chang Li-shan (張麗善) withdrew her candidacy on Monday.
National Yunlin University of Science & Technology professor Wu Wei-chi (吳威志) and Hsu Su-po (許舒博), director of the KMT’s Yunlin branch, are among those the party is considering as a replacement.
Hsu met KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) at KMT headquarters yesterday but said he had no intention of running in the election.
Chan said the party would insist on presenting a candidate with integrity and a clean image. He also said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had urged the party to continue its reform efforts and push for party unity.
“The president hopes that the public will approve of our reform efforts and support the KMT,” he said.
BAD BLOOD
Chang announced on Monday that she would withdraw from the election without telling the party first. She said she was withdrawing her candidacy because of the bad blood between her brother, former Yunlin County commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) and Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元), who ran in Saturday’s Yunlin legislative by-election as an independent.
The split between Chang Hui-yuan and the KMT’s candidate Chang Ken-hui (張艮輝) helped Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) win a landslide victory, the two factions backing Chang Hui-yuan and Chang Jung-wei respectively having turned on each other.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said the party would definitely find a candidate from Yunlin, rather than someone from another city or county.
Wu also dismissed allegations that the party wanted its candidates standing in local government elections who are also legislators to give up their legislative seats.
Chan, however, said the party could consider it as a strategy to increase room for negotiation between hopefuls.
The party could arrange for individuals who were also interested in joining the local government elections to run in the legislative by-elections instead if the other candidates gave up their legislative seats, Chan said.
The KMT would not make a decision on the issue without consulting candidates, legislators and local branches, he said.
KMT candidates who are also legislators include Hsinchu County’s Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳), Taitung County’s Justin Huang (黃健庭), Taoyuan County’s John Wu (吳志揚), and Chiayi County’s Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞).
INDEPENDENT
In related news, Hualien County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chih-ming (張志明) said he would leave the KMT to take part in December’s county commissioner election as an independent.
Chang did not take part in last month’s party primary, which saw former Hualien County Agricultural Development Office director Tu Li-hua (杜麗華) triumph over former minister of health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), but has long been interested in running for the post.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS