Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday became the fourth entry to the party’s chairperson by-election.
The KMT had made a bad decision and wasted the public’s trust, which led the party from victory to defeat in the space of just a year, Chiang told a Lunar New Year tea party at his Taichung office.
If the KMT again allows calls for reforms to be just slogans, it could suffer more defeat and become history, he said.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
He and the KMT have a responsibility to the nation, Chiang said, adding that the party must work fast to regain the public’s trust and continue to supervise the government, thereby bringing about a better Republic of China (ROC).
If elected, he would push reforms based on the KMT’s core values: democracy, justice and innovation, the lawmaker said.
He would ensure that older KMT members pass the torch, and he would include the planned KMT reform committee — which is to be made up of the party’s 15 mayors and county commissioners — as well as members of the KMT caucus to the party’s management, which should be a coordinator and a guide for the caucus as well as the local governments run by the KMT, not just be a commander, he said.
Chiang promised to focus on consolidating the party’s support in the central and southern parts of the nation, where campaigning has been the most difficult, adding that it would demonstrate the party’s sincerity and resolve to voters.
He would take the KMT to the streets to meet grassroot members to learn about the issues they care about, Chiang said, adding that only through this can the party forge a bond with the masses.
Asked whether the KMT’s cross-strait stance had been factor in its election defeat, Chiang said it had been one of the causes and the party needs to be open to all kinds of opinions on the issue.
“To the KMT, any discussion on its cross-strait stance must be based on acknowledgement of the fact that the ROC exists. No matter what stance the other side of the Strait takes, it must direct its attention back to the fact that the ROC exists,” he said.
KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), KMT Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) and former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) attended the party.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has