Members of KMT breakaway James Soong's (宋楚瑜) political party have decided to directly elect their chairman, in an apparent bid to distinguish themselves from the defeated KMT.
"The party's members will directly elect their chairman," said Soong campaign manager and former Judicial Yuan president Liu Sung-pan (
Soong, who was expelled from the KMT after launching an independent presidential bid last year, has repeatedly criticized his former party's procedures as "undemocratic." He and his supporters argue that he would have won the KMT nomination if the party had allowed its members to choose their official candidate.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- who quit his post yesterday under pressure to take responsibility for the party's resounding election defeat -- nominated Vice President Lien Chan (連戰) to be the party's candidate.
Following last week's election results, a growing number of grassroots members and legislators have echoed Soong's criticism of the KMT's procedures.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and top Lien campaign official Chen Shei-saint (陳學聖) are just a few of the prominent KMT members to advocate massive reform -- including a direct election of Lee's successor as chairman.
Ma, Chen and many of the party faithful blame the KMT's election defeat on the growing distance between the grassroots and its leadership.
In last week's presidential election, KMT candidate Lien won 2.9 million votes to Soong's 4.7 million. The KMT has 2 million registered members.
"Where are our members?" Ma asked on Sunday.
Ma and Chen said a direct chairmanship election should be top priority for a general congress to be held within the next few months.
As Soong and the KMT battle for party members, the issue of intraparty democracy could prove to be a hot issue.
Soong's camp decided to upgrade its populist image with a name change they said better reflects their ideals: the "People First Party" (
Soong, however, remains coy about whether he will chair his new party.
Yesterday, the United Evening News reported that Soong did not plan to act as temporary chairman, and that he wanted to be an "ordinary member."
"There is a good chance that the temporary chairman and the directly elected one will be different people," said Soong campaign staffer Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) following the meeting yesterday. He declined to comment on who the temporary or permanent candidates would be.
There is a place for Soong whatever he decides to do, Liu said yesterday.
"Mr Soong will definitely be doing important political work for the party ... if he wants to be chairman, we won't argue," Liu said.
The party will choose a temporary chairman after the National Assembly elections in May, Liu said.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS