The Hsinchu chapter of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday expelled Hsinchu County Council Speaker Chang Pi-chin (張碧琴) for registering for the year-end local elections after the party nominated someone else to run for the position of county commissioner.
Lin Kuo-ping (林國平), chairman of the KMT Hsinchu chapter, said the chapter had forwarded its resolution to KMT headquarters for approval and hoped it would be finalized tomorrow.
Peng Tseng-yuan (彭增源), a standing member of the chapter's Discipline Committee, said they had no alternative but to “reluctantly” cancel Chang's membership because she had violated party rules.
PHOTO: HUANG MEI-CHU, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT has nominated KMT Legislator Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) to contest the Hsinchu County commissioner election on Dec. 5.
Former KMT legislator Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), who lost to Lee Wuo-shi (李沃士) in the party's primary for Kinmen County commissioner, yesterday also announced his withdrawal from the party and registered as a candidate in the election.
Huang Yuan-liang (黃原亮), chairperson of the KMT's Kinmen chapter, said it would present Wu's case to party headquarters for “recommended discipline.”
Aside from Hsinchu and Kinmen, the KMT is also facing a possible split in Yunlin, Hualien, Taitung, Chiayi, Nantou, Yilan, Taoyuan and Penghu.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) yesterday said the Party Disciplinary Committee and the Committee Against Corruption would take care of the Hsinchu chapter's recommendation to expel Chang.
Because the two committees are independent units, Chan said he did not have a say on the matter and the party would respect the decision they make.
On the candidate for Yunlin County commissioner, Chan confirmed that the party was having a hard time finding a replacement for Chang Li-shan (張麗善), but said it would have an “appropriate candidate” before the deadline for registration of candidates, which started yesterday and ends on Friday.
Chang Li-shan last week tearfully withdrew from the race, citing family reasons. Her withdrawal was another blow to the KMT after its resounding defeat in the Yunlin legislative by-election about a week ago.
The split in the pan-blue vote, with both KMT candidate Chang Ken-hui (張艮輝) and independent candidate Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元) running in the by-election, helped Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) win by a landslide.
Chang Hui-yuan said after the by-election that he was considering joining the race for Yunlin County commissioner.
Following Chang Li-shan's withdrawal, the KMT has conducted opinion polls on four hopefuls, but Chan yesterday declined to reveal the outcome, saying it was for internal reference only.
Asked whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who will assume the KMT chairmanship on Oct. 17, would personally talk to defiant party members to resolve the problem, Chan said Ma only expressed concern on the matter but did not have time to get personally involved because he was preoccupied with state affairs, including the financial crisis and flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot.
Meanwhile, DPP Spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said yesterday that former DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) would represent the party in the Taoyuan County commissioner race.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will make an official announcement on Cheng's nomination tomorrow during the Central Standing Committee, Chao said.
The party's platform for the race will be “clean governance, diligence and love for the land” coupled with the slogan “pan-green government, quality guaranteed,” Chao said.
The official strategy of the DPP will be unveiled after the nationwide conference on Oct. 18, he said.
The DPP does not plan to nominate candidates for Kinmen and Lienchiang counties and plans to team up with Chang Chih-ming (張志明), who recently withdrew his membership from the KMT to run as an independent for Hualien County commissioner.
The Dec. 5 elections will not include Taipei County, Kaohsiung County, Taichung County, Taichung City, Tainan City and Tainan County as they will either be directly upgraded to the status of a special municipality or be integrated into a special municipality next year. They will hold their elections simultaneously with heads of the two existing special municipalities — Taipei City and Kaohsiung City — next year.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND CNA
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS