All Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates running for local government positions in the Nov. 24 election are to gather in Taipei today to officially launch their campaigns.
The local election results are seen as a significant indicator for success in the presidential elections, and the KMT is sparing no effort to return to power in 2020, the party said.
The KMT has downsized its campaign events and is encouraging candidates to leave party chapters and directly engage constituents, as the party faces financial difficulties, party sources added.
The Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee in 2016 froze the assets of Central Investment Co and Hsinyutai Corp, worth NT$15.4 billion and NT$200 million (US$503 million and US$6.55 million) respectively, after the two companies were designated as affiliated with the KMT.
The KMT is contesting the committee’s administrative order in an ongoing lawsuit.
KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) absence from the limelight over the past few weeks was said to be so he could concentrate on behind-the-scenes management, including a combined effort by Wu and former Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to organize a rally for KMT Taichung mayoral candidate Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Monday last week.
Party headquarters and local KMT chapters would act in concert, with chapters holding regular meetings to stay on top of electoral affairs and the headquarters thinking up ways to support the chapters, the party said.
KMT Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) has been tasked with managing events nationwide, the party said, adding that it aims to mobilize at least 200 supporters for each event to help bolster party morale.
Tseng has overseen more than 10 support rallies and has devoted himself to increasing party solidarity and unifying members behind common goals, party sources said.
At an event on Aug. 19 — when the KMT National Congress is scheduled to meet — Wu is to confer flags on all candidates to boost their morale.
The party’s propaganda and information apartments are also working at full speed and a campaign Web site with all the candidates’ programs is to be launched in the coming week, sources said, adding that it would emphasize unpopular local and national policies.
Meanwhile, the KMT said its Central Standing Committee’s road show is to begin with a meeting in Taichung on July 25.
The party’s grand strategy is to consolidate its presence in Taipei and New Taipei City, it said, adding that it would also heavily focus on central Taiwan.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS