The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday nominated New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its candidate for next year’s presidential election.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who was the other main contender for the KMT nomination, said he would support Hou’s campaign.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced Hou’s nomination at a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, which in March tasked Chu with choosing a candidate with the best chance to defeating the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
After considering “scientific data and the opinions of local government heads and lawmakers... I solemnly declare that our party has drafted Hou You-yi to run in the Republic of China’s [ROC] 2024 presidential election,” Chu said.
Hou, 65, had been coy about running for president, presumably because he did not want to seem eager to pursue the presidency so soon after being re-elected mayor in November last year.
However, he recently expressed his opinions on Taiwan’s relations with China, purportedly to establish his credentials on major issues before accepting the KMT’s nomination.
Photo: CNA
Last month, Hou said the ROC and Taiwan were like “cup and water,” urging Taiwanese to reach a consensus on that “inseparable” relationship and calling on the international community to recognize the ROC’s existence.
Gou, on the other hand, had advocated accepting the so-called “1992 consensus” to resume dialogue with Beijing and maintain cross-strait peace.
One hour before the committee met yesterday, Gou voiced his support for Hou in a Facebook post, congratulating the mayor on his nomination.
“Mayor Hou has the most solid public support, so it is only natural for him to assume greater responsibility. He is also the best candidate within the KMT,” Gou wrote.
“I will keep my promise and do everything I can to support Mayor Hou to win the 2024 election and get rid of the incompetent government,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) officially nominated party founder and Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as its presidential candidate, setting up a three-way race for the presidency, after the DPP last month nominated Vice President William Lai (賴清德) as its candidate.
Ko was the only TPP member seeking the party’s nomination and his candidacy had been a foregone conclusion for months. His registration information was reviewed by the TPP Central Committee, which approved it at a meeting.
Ko is expected to present his platform, centered on “harmony, reconciliation and peace,” in New Taipei City on Saturday.
Earlier this month, when asked by reporters who his running mate would be, Ko said the TPP welcomed anyone who fit the bill to sign on. He added that Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), one of his deputy mayors during his second mayoral term, would be a “fine candidate.”
There had been speculation that Ko might seek a partnership with Gou, but Ko during a radio interview with former New Power Party legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Tuesday said Gou was apparently not interested in partnering with him.
Polls have shown Ko to have a support rating of 20 to 25 percent.
As the TPP’s main support base is made up of pan-blue and pan-green camp voters, Ko’s entry into the race has increased the unpredictability of the outcome.
The “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 government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS