Following its national congress on Sept. 6, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has begun preparations for the 2022 local elections.
The KMT is seeking re-election in New Taipei City, Taichung and Chiayi, as well as Hsinchu, Changhua, Yunlin, Yilan, Hualien, Taitung, Penghu and Kinmen counties, said a party source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The party would conduct early satisfaction surveys for the mayors and commissioners of those municipalities to see which regions need reinforcement, the source said on Sunday.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The terms of office of the Lienchiang, Miaoli and Nantou county commissioners are to end in 2022, and it remains to be seen who would “take over,” the source said.
Among the eight municipalities that the KMT does not govern, the pan-blue camp has a “good chance” of winning in Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung and Hsinchu, the source added.
However, due to its role as the nominating body, it would not be suitable for the KMT’s central body to decide who is to represent the party in the mayoral elections in those cities, they said, adding that the KMT would encourage party members to compete for the nomination and then select the best candidate based on poll results.
In Kaohsiung, where the KMT lost a mayoral by-election on Aug. 15, KMT Organizational Development Committee director Lee Che-hua (李哲華) has reportedly begun reassembling KMT city councilors.
Besides the resignation of the KMT’s Kaohsiung City Council caucus convener, several city councilors have also left an online chat group, Lee said on Sunday.
Now that he is committee director again, Lee said that he would hold a caucus meeting before the council opens next month and invite city councilors to a meal to elect a caucus convener, and confirm the candidates for the new head of the KMT’s Kaohsiung chapter.
The KMT is also expected to hold elections for party chairperson and party representatives, as well as for party Central Committee and Central Standing Committee members, next year.
The KMT’s 20th party representatives and chairperson elections were held in May 2017, but then-chairman-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) did not take office until August, sparking criticism from within the party that the transition period was too long.
Then-outgoing KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) had planned to hand over the position to Wu in June, but Central Standing Committee members aligned with Wu raised legal doubts over a handover before a national congress was held, and insisted that Wu take office on the day of the congress.
If the KMT holds its national congress and chairperson inaugural ceremony in late August or early September next year, then voting for the party’s next chairperson and representatives could take place in early or mid-August, party sources said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai