Party discipline is a make-or-break factor to rehabilitating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) public image, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday.
Chiang made the remark in a Hit FM radio interview on the party’s relationship with the media, characterizing his efforts to communicate the party’s ideals and plans as “tiresome” due to a “severe imbalance” in reporting.
The party’s relationship with the media is rocky and, as such, the KMT is absolutely at a disadvantage in terms of news coverage, he said.
He cited as an example a rumor that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) had quaffed three bottles of kaoliang liquor to secure the party’s presidential nomination.
“I never believed that,” Chiang said.
The KMT cannot tell certain news outlets what to say, so it should instead focus on the outlets it can influence, Chiang said, adding that the party would review its ties and relations with media groups and change how it handles the media.
The party should treat the media with dignity and respect, he said, expressing the hope that the party, under his leadership, would prove to the media that this gesture is sincere.
Asked whether controversy involving KMT Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) has undercut the party’s rebranding efforts and fueled Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) attacks on the KMT, Chiang said that Wu has received the second-most negative online commentary among KMT lawmakers.
With the DPP deliberately overinterpreting his every word and action, it is easy for the public to see Wu’s remarks as representing the party, Chiang said, adding that he would find time to speak with Wu and offer the party’s assistance in handling the issue.
Should Wu refuse the party’s goodwill and repeat his mistakes, the KMT would have no alternative but to issue him a reprimand, which could result in his removal from the legislator-at-large seat, Chiang said.
Party discipline must be maintained if the rebranding efforts are to succeed, he said.
At a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday, Chiang said that legislators-at-large could have their nominations rescinded if their remarks or actions harm the party’s image.
Chiang said that he has tasked the KMT Organizational Development Committee with drafting changes to the ratio of legislator-at-large nominations assigned by the chairperson and the party’s nomination committee.
The changes would be discussed by the KMT Reform Affairs Committee, he said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS