Politics

Hung on in there: KMT candidate’s impressive history of perseverance

Want China Timews
Date: 2015-06-14
By: Staff Reporter

On Sunday morning, KMT secretary general Lee Shu-chuan announced that the party’s only

Hung Hsiu-chu celebrates passing the Kuomintang's threshold for the presidential primary polls on June 14. (Photo/Chen Yi-cheng)

Hung Hsiu-chu celebrates passing the Kuomintang’s threshold for the presidential primary polls on June 14. (Photo/Chen Yi-cheng)

candidate for the 2016 presidential primary, Hung Hsiu-chu, had passed the party’s 30% threshold for the primary polls with an average approval rating of 46.203%. The result was an average taken from three polls measuring her approval rating when running alone and also against opposition Democratic Progressive Party leader and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen.

Hung, deputy head of the Legislative Yuan, thanked her supporters at a press conference shortly after the announcement, saying the successful poll result was just the first step in her journey but has given her the confidence and courage to keep going.

Hung asked that everyone take more time to learn about what she is doing and said she herself needs to take more time to listen to the voices fo the public, adding that she does not fault her detractors for calling her pro-Beijing because they do not understand who she is and what she stands for.     [FULL  STORY]

Some in KMT concerned about Hung

GEOGRAPHIC DISCOMFORT?If Hung Hsiu-chu is the KMT presidential nominee, she could doom it in legislative elections in central and southern Taiwan, a source said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 15, 2015
By: Jake Chung  /  Staff writer, with CNA

A number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from central and southern Taiwan

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng yesterday talks to reporters in Taipei after Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu received an average of 46.203 percent in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary opinion polls. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng yesterday talks to reporters in Taipei after Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu received an average of 46.203 percent in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary opinion polls. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

yesterday expressed concern about support for Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) in January’s presidential election, despite the 46.203 percent support rate she drew in the party’s presidential primary polls.

KMT party headquarters yesterday announced that Hung passed the required 30 percent support threshold for the primary polls, qualifying her to be nominated for the January election.

KMT sources said that “hesitation and cowardice” among so-called “heavyweights” who failed to run in the primary drove party members to support Hung and help her pass the primary threshold.

KMT Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德), a supporter of Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), said there was no question of Hung receiving enough support to pass the party’s internal requirements, adding that now it is up to the party’s Central Standing Committee — and how many of its members would actually respect the party’s system.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT’s Hung dismisses rumor she will quit presidential race

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-09
By: CNA

Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu’s office on Monday dismissed as “insulting

Hung Hsiu-chu, June 8. (Photo/CNA)

Hung Hsiu-chu, June 8. (Photo/CNA)

voters’ intelligence” a report that she is set to quit the ruling Kuomintang’s June 11 primary for the Taiwan presidential election next year.

“Hung Hsiu-chu will never quit the primary,” said a statement issued by her office in response to a Facebook post by TV pundit Clara Chou, who quoted opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislator Tsai Huang-liang alleging that Hung will make way for two KMT heavyweights to enter the presidential race.

Tsai was quoted as saying that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, who a day earlier had signaled that he would not shun being drafted by the KMT as its presidential candidate, would pair with KMT chair Eric Chu to vie for another four-year presidential term for the ruling party.

In exchange, Wang will step down as speaker, to be replaced by Hung, who will be promised a new four-year term next year, according to the Facebook post.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei city councilor quits legislative race

LASHED BY LIN:Chased out of the race, Liang Wen-chieh of the Democratic Progressive Party was praised by his new former rivals for keeping a promise to voters

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 05, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) of the Democratic Progressive Party

Veteran political campaigner Lin I-hsiung, center, discusses the nomination for next year’s legislative campaign of Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh at a news conference outside his residence in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

Veteran political campaigner Lin I-hsiung, center, discusses the nomination for next year’s legislative campaign of Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh at a news conference outside his residence in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

(DPP) yesterday announced that he would give up a legislative bid after veteran political campaigner Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) accused Liang of breaking a promise to voters by campaigning just months after being re-elected.

“After Lin repeatedly condemned me for running for legislator as a city councilor, I have decided to withdraw from the upcoming legislative election,” Liang told an afternoon news conference at the Taipei City Council building. “I made the decision not because I agree with Lin, but because his moves have caused friction among my supporters and I no longer know what I am fighting for.”

Liang said his decision to run had been justified, adding that winning a majority of legislative seats should be the party’s ultimate objective, and there is nothing wrong with nominating someone who has performed well and is experienced.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai fails to elicit plan to boost Taiwan-China ties in WSJ article

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/02
By: Claudia Liu and Scully Hsiao

Taipei, June 2 (CNA) Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai 201506020033t0001Ing-wen failed to address how she will bolster ties with China in an article that appeared in the June 1 edition of Wall Street Journal, a Presidential Office official said Tuesday.

While Tsai aimed for “a more consistent and sustainable relationship with China” once she is elected as Taiwan’s president in 2016, she did not mention specifics on how this would be accomplished in the article titled “Taiwan Can Build on U.S. Ties,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Cross-strait ties are important part of Taiwan’s relations with the U.S., and by failing to specify how to strengthen ties with China, Tsai missed out on the most crucial issue, the official said.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai ‘in difficult spot’ on US visit: US think tank

Taipei Times
Date: May 31, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in Washington

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “will have

Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, left, holds flowers that were presented to her by 102-year-old Huang Tsai Jui-yun, second left, as Tsai is welcomed at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday. Photo: Chen Hui-ping, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, left, holds flowers that were presented to her by 102-year-old Huang Tsai Jui-yun, second left, as Tsai is welcomed at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday. Photo: Chen Hui-ping, Taipei Times

her work cut out for her” when she arrives in Washington tomorrow, foreign policy experts at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank said in a report.

“Tsai is undoubtedly in a difficult spot,” AEI research fellow Michael Mazza and AEI director of security studies Gary Schmitt said.

In a paper titled Taiwan’s Eternal Dilemma, they said Tsai’s task is “particularly tricky” because she must convince Washington that, as president, she would not pursue de jure independence while being careful not to stray too far from her party’s pro-independence leanings.     [FULL  STORY]

NPP legislative candidate Hu says he is leaving party

Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

New Power Party (NPP) legislative candidate Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the party, following controversy over the party’s relationship with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Hu stirred controversy when he said in an interview on Tuesday that the party might withdraw its support for DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential bid if the DPP fails to display sincerity in collaborating with minor parties.

The NPP quickly distanced itself from Hu’s remarks in a statement on Wednesday, saying that his comments were “not representative of the NPP’s stance.”

“Although we are unclear about the context and intent of Hu Po-yen’s remarks and whether there has been any misunderstanding, what the media have reported cannot be further from the party’s longstanding stance,” the NPP said in a statement.

“We have never seen the issue of negotiating constituencies as a question of ‘yielding’ or not, nor have we ever used our support for any particular presidential candidate as a bargaining chip for legislative constituencies,” the NPP said.

Hu announced his decision to leave the NPP in a Facebook post yesterday morning.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai lied about nomination: academic

Taipei Times
Date: May 28, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Soochow University political science associate professor Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Tuesday, accusing DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of deceit, saying that she had promised him a nomination, but now announced that a poll must be conducted first instead.

In a SuperFM radio interview that aired on Tuesday night, Hsu said that on April 8, Tsai promised that the DPP would nominate him for the legislative seat representing the eighth electoral district in Taichung, saying that only Hsu could win against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).

Tsai had promised that she would take care of potential resentment from local DPP factions and that there would not be a poll to determine the DPP candidate in the district, Hsu said in the interview.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP will not renounce Taiping Island sovereignty: chairwoman

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/26
By: Yang Sz-ruei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 26 (CNA) Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in Tainan Tuesday that the party will not give up Taiwan’s 39077940claims of sovereignty over Taiping Island, located in the Spratly Islands (南沙群島) in the South China Sea.

Tsai said her party insists on a peaceful solution to territorial disputes in the South China Sea according to international law.

She told the media before delivering a speech at Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science in the southern municipality that she does not understand why it has been called into question that the DPP might abandon Republic of China sovereignty over Taiping Island if it is returned to power.

The DPP will not renounce the territorial claims and insists that maritime territorial disputes and sovereignty issues among all concerned parties in the South China Sea be peacefully solved according to international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Tsai said.     [FULL  STORY]

Opinion poll to determine Hung’s fate as KMT presidential nominee

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/25
By: Claudia Liu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) will be 201505250029t0001required to get at least 30 percent support in a public opinion poll to become the Kuomintang’s presidential nominee in the 2016 election, a KMT official said Monday.

Hung became the only candidate to qualify for the party’s presidential primary on Monday after a screening committee said she received 35,210 valid endorsements from registered party members, well over the threshold of 15,000.

The only other candidate seeking to qualify for the presidential primary, former Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), obtained only 5,234 valid signatures and did not meet the requirement, according to the committee.

Because Hung was the only individual to qualify for the primary, her fate will now be decided by a public opinion poll. Should Hung fall short of the required 30 percent support, the KMT could decide not to nominate her and draft another candidate.