Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday announced a bid to retain his post, citing the need for a “kingmaker” to choose the most suitable candidate to win the 2024 presidential election.
As party chairman, with the ability to influence policies, Chiang said that he hoped to represent the party’s younger members and change the public’s perception of the KMT from being a rigidly hierarchical party run by older politicians.
Chiang was clear about not running for president in 2024, saying that he believed the party chair should not entertain thoughts of running for president.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
However, people are free to have their own opinion, he added.
Chiang said that he stepped up, choosing to shoulder the responsibility of leading the party when it was at its lowest after last year’s presidential election, fully aware that he would face criticism for promoting change.
Over the past year, the KMT has weathered numerous issues — including the recall of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), re-elections for Kaohsiung mayor and city council speaker, recall motions for independent Kaohsiung city councilor Huang Chieh (黃捷) and former Democratic Progressive Party Taoyuan city councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇), and protests over the importation of US pork with traces of ractopamine — but they have made the party stronger, Chiang said.
Wang was recalled as Taoyuan city councilor, while Huang remains a Kaohsiung city councilor.
The party’s long history does not mean it should be old and decrepit — it must rather change with the times, as it has done many times in the past, Chiang said, citing the reforms introduced by then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in 1986.
The party must change from within as it is challenged from without, and areas such as its cross-strait policy, its policy to foster younger members, and improvements to party finances and organization all need to change, Johnny Chiang said.
The party must acclimatize itself to being in the opposition and be closer to the people, as well as familiarizing itself with technology, he added.
Younger members need to have a say in KMT policies, as the younger generation is the future of the party, he said, citing his being featured on Time magazine’s second annual “TIME100 Next” list — which recognizes “emerging leaders who are shaping the future” — as a way of encouraging younger members to step to the fore.
The KMT chairperson election is to take place in July.
Johnny Chiang defeated former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) in the party’s chairperson by-election on March 7 last year. The election filled the vacancy left by Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who stepped down after the party’s losses in last year’s presidential and legislative elections.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
CHANGES: While NCCU opened the nation’s first co-ed dorm in Mucha, a recent survey showed that Taiwanese are in favor of abolishing gender segregation at high schools National Chengchi University (NCCU) has opened a co-ed dormitory, a first in Taiwan among state-funded Taiwan universities. The 22 duplexes are at the renovated “Huanan New Village,” in Taipei City’s Mucha (木柵) area, near the NCCU campus, a school official said yesterday. Twenty-two out of 37 group applications were selected in a lottery draw to select who would be chosen to live in the units, which can either be shared by up to eight students if the unit has four bedrooms, or up to 10 students if it is a five-bedroom unit, officials said. Completed in 1964 for campus staff housing,
RSS