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New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih named as KMT presidential nominee

ROC Central News Agency

05/17/2023 02:24 PM

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) was nominated Wednesday as the opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) presidential candidate, while the other main contender, business tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘), vowed to support Hou's candidacy and help him win in January 2024.

KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced the nomination of Hou at a meeting of the party's Central Standing Committee, which in March gave Chu a mandate to choose anyone with the best chance to defeat the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

After considering "scientific data and the opinions of local government heads and lawmakers...I solemnly declare that our party has drafted Hou Yu-ih to run in the Republic of China's 2024 presidential election," Chu said.

The 65-year-old Hou was widely billed as the KMT's preferred candidate in the race, but he has been very coy about his candidacy, presumably because he did not want to seem too eager to pursue the nomination so soon after being reelected as New Taipei mayor on Nov. 26, 2022.

Recently, however, Hou has started to express opinions on relations with China, seen as a way to establish his credentials on major issues before accepting the presidential nomination.

In April, Hou drew an analogy between the "Republic of China (ROC) and Taiwan" as "glass and water," urging people in Taiwan to reach a consensus on the "inseparable" relationship and urging the international community to recognize the ROC's existence.

Gou, founder of the Hon Hai Technology Group, or Foxconn, the world's biggest contract manufacturing company, began competing for the KMT's presidential nomination in early April.

During his campaign, the 72-year-old has advocated accepting "one China, with different interpretations" -- Taiwan and China hold different interpretation of what China means -- in order to resume talks with Beijing and maintain cross-Taiwan Strait peace.

An hour before the KMT committee meeting on Wednesday, Gou voiced his support for Hou in a Facebook post, congratulating the mayor for being nominated as the KMT's presidential candidate.

"Mayor Hou has the most solid foundation of public support within the KMT, so it is only natural for him to assume greater responsibility. He is also the best candidate in the KMT," Gou wrote.

"I will keep my promise and do everything I can to support Mayor Hou to win the 2024 general election and get rid of the incompetent government," he wrote.

(By Shih Hsiu-chuan)

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