Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said he told the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nomination panel that he is willing to join the party’s primary.
When the five-member panel asked if he would like to participate, his answer was that he would, Han told reporters after a closed-door meeting with the panel at the Garden Villa hotel in Kaohsiung.
The panel explained the party’s primary regulations and information about three platform presentations scheduled for June 25, June 29 and July 3 in southern, central and northern Taiwan respectively, he said.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
He agreed to the regulations and would pay the required NT$5 million (US$159,286) registration fee, he said.
“That is not a problem and I will do whatever is required. I will do things right, since I have agreed to take part in the primary,” he added.
Asked if he would attend the platform presentations, Han said the events were very important and that he would attend if he could.
Prior to the meeting, Han told reporters that he and the panel had agreed that the meeting would be private.
If it were public, “it would be difficult to say some things,” he said.
The KMT said the panel is to consult other party members interested in joining the presidential primary, as well as those who have been recommended to run, before it announces its official list of primary candidates on Monday next week.
The panel has met with former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中).
When asked about his meeting with the panel today, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) told reporters on the sidelines of a Dragon Boat Festival event in New Taipei City that the afternoon meeting would be open to the media.
He would propose that the primary include cellphone-based polls and a debate between all KMT candidates, he said.
“People cannot choose a candidate based on their rallies. You need to tell people your policy plans and that is what I have been doing everyday, waking up early and going to bed late,” he said.
He would also protest to KMT headquarters about its lack of strategies to unify members, he said.
“The party not only lacks a general election strategy, but plans to unify its members,” he said, adding that there are smear campaigns against him every day, organized by people who pretend to support Han.
KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said including cellphone-based polls was an option to consider.
“They [the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)] can do it, then of course we can do it,” he said when asked by reporters at an event celebrating National Taiwan Normal University’s anniversary.
Asked about the KMT’s election strategy, Wang said he does not know if the party has one, although having one is necessary.
Chu told reporters during an interview in Taipei that the KMT needs to have an election strategy to avoid internal rifts.
Recent polls showed that the public’s support for the KMT has declined, while that for the DPP had increased, he said.
This could be because of competition between KMT members, so the party should have plans to ensure such rivalry unfolds in a positive manner, he said.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the
RSS