Amid President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) low approval ratings and speculation over who will be his “designated successor” within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the KMT has raised eyebrows among top brass in his party with his recent acceptance of an invitation to speak from a Taiwan independence group.
Chu on Nov. 28 was invited to speak at a forum organized by the Taiwan Brain Trust, a think tank founded by Taiwanese independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), on the topic of “city governance and national development.”
While Chu’s speech did not contain any surprises, pro-Taiwanese independence heavyweights said Chu was able to highlight key issues in governance and commended his ability and good reputation, adding that Chu “should come forward in 2016 [to vie for the KMT presidential candidacy].”
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Top-ranking officials from the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan have taken notice of the praise garnered by Chu from the pan-green camp and found it “hard to look at,” one party insider said.
According to the party source, a subtle yet intriguing change is taking place in the interaction between Ma and Chu, who is regarded as one of the KMT’s hopefuls for the 2016 presidential election.
In his speech at the Taiwan Brain Trust, Chu avoided saying whether a national affairs conference should be held.
However, he said that “the important thing is that when our nation is facing serious issues, the government and opposition parties should work together to find solutions.”
Because Ma has rejected opposition parties’ proposal to convene a national affairs conference, the remarks by Chu, while being ambiguous, have been interpreted by political observers as signaling a different stance from Ma.
In another incident, last week at a New Taipei City council meeting, Chu accused the judiciary and prosecutors’ offices of abusing their power while investigating top civil servants and indicting them on charges of graft.
The remarks earned Chu a rebuke by Ma, who doubles as the KMT chairman, at the KMT Central Standing Committee on Wednesday.
Commenting on the incidents, some pan-blue camp stalwarts said outsiders tended to blow any perceived change in the relationship between Ma and Chu out of proportion.
In response to media queries, Chu yesterday said he and Ma have always remained in contact.
“There is no rift between us,” he said.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS