Politics

KMT Candidates Debate Party’s Future Ahead of Chair Election

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By Patrick Chen/Tiffany Wong

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Taiwan’s Kuomintang is set to elect a new party leader. As candidates outlined their visions in a televised briefing on Sunday, two front-runners — former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-pin and lawmaker Lo Chih-chiang — were notably absent. Those present talked about their strategies for leading the party to victory in the next presidential election. Some party lawmakers expressed concerns that the packed debate schedule is pulling candidates away from their other responsibilities.

Contenders for leadership of the Kuomintang are putting forward their visions for the opposition party with many of them considering how to unify the party, which has been struggling since losing three presidential elections in a row.

Former lawmaker Cheng Li-wun, who previously was a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said that she was open to working with the smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party in order to ramp up public support.

We don’t just need party unity, we need to unite the entire opposition and mainstream public opinion.  

If we can successfully win local elections next year we can establish a strong foundation of mutual trust between the KMT and the TPP.  

This way, the 2028 [presidential] campaign will go much more smoothly.

With winning the next presidential election at the top of the party’s goals, some candidates are already strategizing how the party chair and presidential nominee can work together. Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung, who has run several times for the KMT’s top position and presidential nomination, said both positions need to work together.

When I ran for party chair four years ago, I made a solemn promise that the party chair and presidential candidate must align to avoid clashing opinions.  

So I made a promise that if I were party chair, I would hand over my authority as chair to the presidential candidate and let them lead the party.

These televised appearances will continue ahead of the party’s October 18 chair election.

But notably absent from Sunday’s policy briefings were two of the frontrunners: former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-pin and KMT Caucus Secretary-General Lo Chih-chiang.

Both of them spent the weekend in Hualien in eastern Taiwan, where flood recovery efforts after a recent typhoon are still underway.

Their absence comes after over a dozen KMT lawmakers criticized the planned total 14 televised debates and policy briefings, happening every few days before the chair election.

The lawmakers urged candidates to show more concern for the devastation in Hualien’s Guangfu Township, where 18 people died. One of the debates scheduled for Saturday was cancelled.

Despite party lawmakers’ criticisms, the debates are drawing in hundreds of thousands of viewers nationally and gaining attention abroad.

A former CIA analyst warned that the candidates’ "pro-dialogue" approach to China and “skeptical” views of US ties could be seen by Washington as the party not taking the threat of a Chinese invasion seriously, something the candidates may try to clarify in future policy briefings.

With just two weeks before election day, candidates will be trying to put their best foot forward on the debate stage and on the ground to win over party members and the hearts of the public.