The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) election supervisory body yesterday revoked a controversial decision to refer KMT chair candidate Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) to the party’s disciplinary committee.
Chang, whose popularity rose after a televised debate on Sept. 4, is one of four candidates in the KMT’s chair election to take place on Saturday next week.
The other candidates are former Changhua County commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), incumbent KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who was KMT chairman from January 2015 to January 2016.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The KMT Central Election Supervision Committee at a meeting on Monday decided to refer Chang, who is president of Sun Yat-sen School, to the party’s Central Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee, citing what it described as Chang’s repeated verbal attacks against Chu during the campaign.
The election committee also said that it would postpone a series of regional platform presentations for the candidates until after the disciplinary committee had ruled on the matter.
Chiang on Monday said that he was surprised by the election committee’s decision and urged its members to reconsider.
New Taipei City Councilor Chen Ming-yi (陳明義), who represents Chiang on the election committee, was not at the meeting when the decision was made, Chiang said.
The election committee’s decision two weeks before the vote would not help to resolve issues within the KMT and could lead to controversy, he said.
Chu later on Monday said that he hoped the disciplinary committee would not penalize Chang, and called on Chiang and the KMT Central Standing Committee to “revoke the order” to refer Chang to the disciplinary committee.
Chiang responded by saying that on Aug. 17 he took a leave of absence from his position as KMT chairman to campaign for re-election and therefore he has no say over party affairs.
Whereas Chen did not attend the election committee meeting, Chu’s representative, Yao Chiang-lin (姚江臨) did, Chiang said.
The election committee met yesterday and approved a proposal from Chen to rescind both the decision to refer Chang to the disciplinary committee and to postpone the regional platform presentations, the KMT said.
Chang in a statement later yesterday said that the controversy had caused people to question the neutrality of the party’s election officials.
The KMT should clear up the doubts of the candidates, party members and public, by issuing an explanation and holding those involved responsible, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS