Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday rebutted rumors that former KMT member Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) was planning to run in November’s local elections, after accepting Hsu’s application to rejoin the KMT.
Hsu, who left the KMT seven years ago to found the Republican Party, yesterday led 100 young people who joined her in filing applications at KMT headquarters.
Chu accepted the applications and gave Hsu her party membership certificate.
Photo: CNA
Asked by a reporter if she was thinking about running in November’s elections, Hsu answered that she had not even thought about it.
Chu said that Hsu’s return to the KMT was the “right course of action for now.”
Commenting on KMT Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin’s (徐巧芯) accusations that the party was using young people as a front, Chu said that young party members would not be “sacrificed” to the party’s interests, but would instead become its “mainstream.”
Asked about media reports citing the party’s low 16 percent support rating among young people, Chu said that polls were only for reference, and that the party is taking action to remedy this.
“The KMT has polls, too, and we expect to show you the latest results on Friday,” he said. “We will strive, one step at a time, to win the recognition of young people.”
While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has money, power and government positions, the KMT only has ambition, a love for Taiwan and the determination to work hard for the Republic of China, he said.
“If a young person wants to be a high-ranking official and make a lot of money, they should join the DPP. They will have no power or official position in the KMT,” he said. “Anyone who wants to join the KMT should be ambitious and determined — and Hsu Hsin-ying represents that spirit.”
Hsu Hsin-ying said she hoped Taiwanese would support the KMT so that Taiwan would “not be hurt by the dominance of one party,” or that there would be “no accidental military conflict” with China, which Taiwan’s military “would not be able to handle.”
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