Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday said that he hopes the party’s Institute of Revolutionary Practice could become an “important cradle” for attracting and cultivating party talent.
“Although the KMT is poor, it cannot be poor in the area of cultivating talent because talent and discourse are the KMT’s most important assets in the future,” Chiang said at a news conference at the party’s Taipei headquarters to mark Taipei City Councilor Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) taking over as the institute’s new director, along with deputy directors Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) and Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪).
The party must show the public through action, not just words, that it wants to develop new talent, he added.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lo outlined his three major policies for the institute, which has reverted to its original name from the National Development Institute.
He said that he would not take a salary for being its director, although Chiang had told him that the job was an “obligatory post” that came without pay when he offered it to him.
“The KMT is at a historic low point,” Lo said. “The institute has no money and neither does the KMT.”
Lo said he would keep the promise that he made on Jan. 12, the day after the presidential and legislative elections, to donate NT$800,000 (US$26,532) to the KMT’s youth development work once a new party chairperson was elected.
The donation would be made to the institute to help pay its expenses, he said.
Furthermore, the institute is to launch a NT$10 million fundraising drive, he said, adding that details would be released as soon as possible.
While NT$10 million is a small sum for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose resources are “endless,” it is an “astronomical amount” for the KMT, he added.
For decades the KMT had a reputation as one of the wealthiest political parties in the world.
In July 2018, Ministry of Interior data showed that the KMT had assets totaling NT$18.9 billion (US$626.82 million), while the DPP had assets worth NT$769 million, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported.
However, on Dec. 6 last year, the KMT said it was struggling to pay staff, due to an asset freeze imposed by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee.
The committee said that the KMT had income of NT$420 million in 2018 that had not been frozen.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the