Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) has been featured in Time magazine’s second annual “TIME100 Next” list, which recognizes “emerging leaders who are shaping the future.”
In a profile of Chiang written for “TIME100 Next,” Time East Asia correspondent Charlie Campbell described Chiang as “the youngest-ever leader of Asia’s oldest political party.”
Chiang, who was elected chairman in March last year, “knew that reforming Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) wouldn’t be easy,” Campbell wrote.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“But given that his party had just suffered two straight crushing election defeats, he knew they needed to move away from their aging base and attract a new generation of voters,” he wrote.
Asked for comment, Chiang told reporters at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday that he is honored to have received such recognition.
His inclusion in the list is not a personal achievement, but rather an indication that international media and society have been paying attention and looking forward to the reforms and changes that the KMT have made, Chiang said.
In the past year or so, he has faced a lot of pressure, Chiang said, adding that he hoped the KMT’s reform could move forward steadily, so that people who look forward to it would not be disappointed.
Chiang was included in the list’s “Leaders” category, alongside other honorees such as Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, US Representative Adam Kinzinger and US senators Ben Sasse, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
The list, which was released on Wednesday, is “an expansion of our flagship TIME100 franchise that highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal wrote in a statement.
“Although recognizing the leaders of tomorrow lends itself to a younger group, we intentionally have no age cap, an acknowledgment that ascents can begin at any age,” he said.
The KMT said in a statement yesterday that Chiang is the first Taiwanese politician to be named to the list.
Last year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was named one of the year’s 100 most influential figures by the magazine.
She was included in the same list in 2015 when she was chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS