Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) yesterday echoed a call made by younger KMT members to drop the word “Chinese” from the party’s name.
Lu, who also doubles as a party Central Standing Committee member, said on Facebook that the KMT could have to “scrap the whole thing and restart from nothing” in order to “rise from its ashes.”
“The KMT has seen yet another rout in the Jan. 16 elections after a major defeat in the 2014 nine-in-one local elections. If the KMT does not undertake thorough party reforms and restructuring, and continues to play its ‘court politics,’ [last Saturday’s] avalanche-like defeat would not be the last the KMT would face,” Lu said.
The party mechanism of the 100-year-old party is out of date, failing the expectations of new politics and younger people, he said.
“Even the party name, Zhongguo Kuomintang (中國國民黨), is a contrast to what we are seeing in the society: The rise of local consciousness and the adversity against China,” he said.
“The KMT’s name is not unchangeable. From the Society for Regenerating China (興中會) in 1894, the Tungmenghui (同盟會) in 1905, the Kuomingtang in 1912, the Chunghwa Revolutionary Party in 1914 to finally the Zhongguo Kuomingtang [Chinese Nationalist Party] in 1919, the party has gone through four name changes,” Lu said.
A name change by dropping the word “Chinese” could therefore be a right move for the party to answer the calls for localization, he said.
The legislator also called for accustoming the party’s central beliefs and core values to the new era and the younger generation, streamlining the party’s internal structures, which have been the cause for the party’s “bureaucratic culture,” and reorganizing the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) faction, which has been idiosyncratic and a “sub-party” in itself that resists unified directive from the party’s center, by merging it with other party chapters.
“The party also has to establish an institutionalized system for cultivating young members, rather than bowing to the interests of certain factions or families,” Lu said.
Regarding party assets, Lu suggested transferring part of the assets to the state for establishing a “national sovereign fund” that could help Taiwanese businesspeople carry out strategic plans around the globe.
Lu did not seek re-election in the legislative election on Saturday last week, as he had lost the party primary to Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), who was defeated by Democratic Progressive Party’s Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in Hsinchu City.
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
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
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
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS