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had lapsed after not paying party dues could pay NT$300 to reinstate their membership, while those whose membership had been revoked could return by paying NT$600.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.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS