The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday launched the party’s “digital chapter,” a mobile app that it says represents its willingness to “keep up with the times.”
The app’s functions allow KMT members to verify a membership card or pay fees, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) told a news conference in Taipei.
A map lets users find chapter locations and shops that offer discounts to party members, he said.
Photo: CNA
“More importantly, we can keep in touch with you,” Chiang said, adding that the party can use the app to update its members on party events and make announcements.
The app could also be used to conduct polls in real time to “understand the views of more party members and even non-party members,” he said.
People can also use the app to apply to join the party, he added.
“This is the digital age,” Chiang said. “If you cannot keep up with the digital age, prepare to be eliminated by it.”
Chiang said that he proposed the creation of a “digital chapter” in the run-up to the March 7 chairperson by-election, when he was campaigning for the position.
“We are the first political party to digitize,” he said.
The launch of the platform “represents that the KMT is willing to innovate, accept change and keep up with the times,” he said.
“In the past, everyone might have thought that the KMT was removed from the public and far away from its members,” said Chien Chin-yu (簡勤佑), who was appointed the party’s “chief digital marketing technology officer” in April.
The intent of the app is to address that distance, he added.
“This is just the beginning,” Chien said, adding that other functions are to be added to the app.
The “digital chapter” became available for download on Tuesday, the party said.
Asked whether the KMT’s proposed referendum on food safety means that it is taking an “anti-US” stance, Chiang said that “guarding food safety ... has nothing to do with being pro-US or anti-US. This is an issue of food safety — no need to politicize it.”
On Wednesday, Chiang said that the KMT planned to launch a referendum on food safety on Sunday in response to a decision by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing ractopamine and beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
Additional reporting by CNA
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported