Politics

Grassroots Alliance steps up campaign

SUNFLOWER ROOTS:‘No one gave a shit about them and their opinions, but a few years later, we witnessed their achievements,’ Lin Chia-hsing said of the Sunflower movement

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 25, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The newly established Grassroots Alliance yesterday stepped up its efforts to push for reforms of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), announcing that in the next few months it is to hold six seminars across the nation.

The alliance made the announcement in Taipei yesterday at its first seminar — held to expound on its reform ideas and founding principles, and to recruit members and voluntary workers.

Despite the cold weather, nearly 80 participants packed the small venue, which was offered to the alliance by a supporter free of charge.

“The KMT has evolved from a revolutionary party to one that is stable and conservative. When it comes to governing a nation, there is nothing wrong with being stable and conservative, but we believe it is time to make the KMT a revolutionary party once again,” former chief of the KMT’s Youth League and Grassroots Alliance founder Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) said.

During his sophomore year at National Chengchi University, Lin said he joined Sunflower movement leaders Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) to advocate causes the group believed in.     [FULL  STORY]

Vice President Wu Den-yih hints not to join KMT chair race

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s Vice President Wu Den-yih hinted Sunday he will not join the race 6730971for KMT chair, saying he would like the middle-aged generation to take on this responsibility.

Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu and former Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin have announced their intention to run for the leadership of the KMT, which suffered its biggest election defeat in the party’s history in Taiwan’s 2016 general elections. The KMT lost both presidency and the majority in the Legislature to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party by landslide margins.

The voices calling for the KMT to start a reformation has become louder and louder since the election was over in mid-January.

In response to the media question whether he will run for KMT leadership while attending a social function on Sunday, Wu said he hopes the middle-aged generation can take on the responsibility of upholding the party’s core value of loving the country and its people.     [FULL  STORY][

Presidential and DPP reps meet to talk handover

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Presidential secretary-general Tseng Yung-chuan and President-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s representative Lin Hsi-yao met Saturday to discuss the period leading up to the presidential inauguration on May 20.

There have been a wide variety of suggestions for handling the transition period, especially in the wake of Premier Mao Chi-kuo’s resignation and the advent of a Democratic Progressive Party majority at the Legislative Yuan beginning February 1.

At their meeting, Tseng and Lin, who is a former DPP secretary-general, discussed the plan to find a new premier who was acceptable to the new legislative majority as well as the setting up of a transition committee, presidential spokesman Charles Chen said.

Tsai’s delegation officially rejected President Ma Ying-jeou’s recurrent offer to form a new Cabinet based on the new DPP majority at the Legislature, reports said. Lin also denied that his party had already formed a transition committee.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT urged to side with CCP for survival

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 24, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Pro-unification professor of Chinese literature Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波) on Friday said that the only way for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to survive is to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and achieve a peaceful unification.

While some have proposed removing “China” from the KMT’s party name, others have said that the party took a drubbing in the election because it is against mainstream public opinion — meaning that it is not “green” enough.

Wang was quoted by the Chinese-language China Review News as saying “that is nonsense” at a forum in Taipei on Friday. The forum was organized by several pro-unification groups to discuss post-election development of cross-strait relations.

Wang said that the presidential and legislative electoral results have not shifted blue-green distribution of party allegiance because of the low turnout of pan-blue supporters.

“What had defeated the KMT was not the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP), but the KMT’s shifting toward the DPP and not being KMT enough,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Cabinet should stay on until May 20: Hsu

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A caretaker president should only form a caretaker 6730676Cabinet, and it would still be the best if the incumbent team stayed on until the presidential inauguration on May 20, said former Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang.

While DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen was elected president with 56 percent of the vote on January 16, she will still have to wait four months until she is sworn in, leading to a variety of proposals on how the government should function during that time.

An extra complication is that the DPP also won a majority at the Legislative Yuan which will start work on February 1, heading into more than three months of possible confrontation with a Kuomintang-led government.     [FULL  STORY]

NPP discusses next legislative speaker

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The New Power Party said Friday it would not name 6730375a candidate for the post of legislative speaker, while setting conditions for the kind of candidate it would support.

In the January 16 elections, the Democratic Progressive Party won 68 out of 113 seats, making it virtually certain that its candidate will be elected speaker on February 1.

The NPP won five seats, coming third behind the Kuomintang, which held on to 35 seats. Presidential candidate James Soong’s People First Party won three seats, and independents of various backgrounds won two.

At its first official caucus meeting Friday, the NPP said it would not name its own candidates to run for speaker or vice speaker, but would review other candidates for their legislative review plans, their past political behavior, their social reputation and their ability to conduct foreign parliamentary relations.

Any candidate should first propose a clear blueprint for reforming the Legislature, said NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang, one of the five lawmakers from the party, which emerged from the ranks of the Sunflower Movement.     [FULL STORY]

KMT legislator supports party name change

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 23, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) yesterday echoed a call made by younger KMT members to drop the word “Chinese” from the party’s name.

Lu, who also doubles as a party Central Standing Committee member, said on Facebook that the KMT could have to “scrap the whole thing and restart from nothing” in order to “rise from its ashes.”

“The KMT has seen yet another rout in the Jan. 16 elections after a major defeat in the 2014 nine-in-one local elections. If the KMT does not undertake thorough party reforms and restructuring, and continues to play its ‘court politics,’ [last Saturday’s] avalanche-like defeat would not be the last the KMT would face,” Lu said.

The party mechanism of the 100-year-old party is out of date, failing the expectations of new politics and younger people, he said.

“Even the party name, Zhongguo Kuomintang (中國國民黨), is a contrast to what we are seeing in the society: The rise of local consciousness and the adversity against China,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP legislative caucus issues reform manifesto

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-22
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

It is the first time the DPP won an absolute legislative majority, taking 68 of 6730383the 113 seats. The DPP legislative caucus members held a press conference Friday morning to speak of their reform proposals, which will be put forth once the DPP takes office.

Presidential and legislative elections last week saw a landslide victory for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with Tsai Ing-wen being elected as president and the party winning a majority of seats in the next Legislature. The DPP legislative caucus members held a press conference Friday issuing their manifesto, vowing to push for legislative reform immediately after taking office.

It is the first time the DPP won an absolute legislative majority, taking 68 of the 113 seats. The DPP legislative caucus members held a press conference Friday morning to speak of their reform proposals, which will be put forth once the DPP takes office.

The proposals are part of the DPP’s wider plans for legislative reform, said legislator Lee Chun-yi, including the establishment of regulations for an impartial speaker of the Legislature, changes to the Legislature’s voting system, and the improvement of the Legislature’s efficiency and transparency.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT youth to hear leadership hopefuls

GROWING SUPPORT:About 2,000 people signed an online petition calling on the KMT to deal with contentious party assets and promote youth participation in politics

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 23, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

An initiative launched by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) younger

Former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin talks to the press in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

Former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin talks to the press in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

members advocating party reform yesterday announced that it would hold a forum to invite KMT chairmanship candidates to answer questions regarding their plans for the party.

“We are going to hold a forum called ‘Chairman, may I ask a question?’ in the hopes of understanding the candidates’ plans to reform the party and subject them to public scrutiny,” the Grassroots Cooperation Alliance said in a press statement.

The alliance said a number of KMT members have announced that they would run for party chairmanship, including Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), former KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Taipei City councilors Lee Hsin (李新) and Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平).

However, their election manifestos are merely slogans and lack substantial plans for reform, the alliance said.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai receives election certificate

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President-elect Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President-6730397elect Chen Chien-jen on Friday received the certificate from the Central Election Commission naming them as the winners of the January 16 election.

Tsai and Chen received 6.89 million votes, or 56 percent, leaving Kuomintang leader Eric Liluan Chu behind with 31 percent and People First Party Chairman James Soong with 12 percent.

CEC Chairman Liu I-chou personally delivered the official document to Tsai and Chen Friday, almost a week after the event.     [FULL  STORY]