A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) initiative to reinstate former members and attract new ones has shown positive results, drawing nearly 50,000 people to the party within four months, the KMT said on Saturday.
The KMT has in the past few years been experiencing a membership exodus in what some have characterized as “jumping ship.”
In an attempt to reverse the trend, the party on Nov. 1 last year launched the “Same Boat” project, aiming to “return 10,000 people to the family.”
Photo courtesy of KMT
Under the initiative, those whose membership had lapsed after not paying party dues could pay NT$300 to reinstate their membership, while those whose membership had been revoked could return by paying NT$600.
Originally scheduled to run until Nov. 24 last year, the initiative was extended to Feb. 17 due to the enthusiastic response, the party said in a statement.
The KMT said that members are drawn to the party because of shared ideals, not political interests.
As an example, it highlighted the story of Liu Yu-chen (劉裕珍), owner of the Fun Wow Hydroponics Farm in Changhua County’s Fangyuan Township (芳苑).
Liu responded to the “Same Boat” program when it began last year, paying dues of NT$10,000 to become a lifetime member.
Through her organic farm, Liu is advancing agriculture in Taiwan to help make it more refined, internationally recognized and competitive, the party said.
Liu serves as an example of the ways people across the nation are “in the same boat,” working hard to create a more beautiful future for Taiwan, it added.
The project has also drawn younger members to the party, it said.
One new member, 27-year-old Lin Tzu-ping (林子平), used to support pan-green camp parties, but after starting a business, came to realize that “the personal is political,” the KMT said.
Lin over the past few years has noticed the increasingly untrustworthy and rash actions of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it said.
After what the KMT called last year’s “Medigen vaccine debacle” and referendums, Lin more deeply understood how the DPP has failed to live up to its promises to improve social ills, even going against public opinion, it said.
Lin therefore came to believe that “Taiwan should have a strong opposition party to serve as a check on the government,” it added.
High-school student Lee Chia-yu (李家宇) also joined the KMT after spending his childhood attending party activities with his father, who led the local KMT chapter in Chiayi County’s Puzih City (朴子).
The experiences showed Lee the achievements of the party, as well as the services offered to local residents, the KMT said, adding that Lee formally joined the party to give back to his country and hometown.
While many young people have joined the KMT for the first time through the “Same Boat” project, the party said they are not the only demographic who have taken advantage of the opportunity.
The nearly 50,000 new or returning members have come to the realization that the DPP is unable to offer Taiwanese a stable livelihood, with worsening inflation, stagnant wages and food safety concerns, among other issues, the KMT said.
They are fed up with a ruling party that has gone against its word and have taken action, giving the KMT the power to serve as a check on the government for the betterment of all, it added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods