Cheng Li-wun will take over the management of Kuomintang celebration on November 1.
Revealed On 19 Oct 2025
Taiwan’s principal opposition celebration has chosen a brand new reformist chief who’s essential of excessive defence spending however envisions peace with neighbouring China, whose sovereignty claims over the island have lengthy roiled ties.
Members of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) celebration, which historically has had heat ties with Beijing, voted to elect former lawmaker Cheng Li-wun as chairperson on Saturday.
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Cheng, 55, who defeated former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and 4 others, will take over the celebration management on November 1.
The election of Cheng, who warns towards letting Taiwan “develop into the sacrifice of geopolitics”, has deep implications for home politics at a time of heightened military and political tensions with China.
Whereas the KMT doesn’t management the presidency, the celebration and its ally – the small Taiwan Individuals’s Social gathering – collectively maintain sufficient seats to kind a majority bloc within the legislature, making a headache for the ruling Democratic Progressive Social gathering (DPP) attempting to get the funds and its laws handed.
Talking at celebration headquarters in Taipei, Cheng mentioned the KMT underneath her management can be a “creator of regional peace”.
“The KMT will make our residence the strongest shelter for everybody towards life’s storms. As a result of we’ll safeguard peace throughout the Taiwan Strait,” she mentioned. “We should not let Taiwan develop into a troublemaker.”
Accusations of Chinese language interference
Cheng, who began out in politics within the DPP, mentioned in the course of the marketing campaign that she didn’t assist increasing the defence budget, a key coverage of President William Lai Ching-te’s administration that additionally has strong backing from america.
Cheng beat the institution candidate Hau, 73, with greater than 50 % of the vote, although turnout was lower than 40 % of the celebration members.
However accusations of Chinese language interference within the election from a key supporter of Hau’s, the KMT’s vice presidential candidate final 12 months, Jaw Shau-kong, overshadowed the marketing campaign. Jaw mentioned social media accounts had unfold disinformation about Hau.
The pinnacle of Taiwan’s Nationwide Safety Bureau, Tsai Ming-yen, mentioned it discovered greater than 1,000 movies discussing the election on TikTok, along with 23 YouTube accounts posting associated content material, with over half of the YouTube accounts primarily based exterior of Taiwan. He didn’t say which candidates these movies supported or instantly reply whether or not they have been primarily based in China.
DPP spokesperson Wu Cheng claimed that Chinese language interference was apparent and the KMT ought to rigorously guard towards it, saying his celebration hoped that the brand new chair would prioritise Taiwan’s security over celebration pursuits.
Cheng rejected the allegations of China influencing her celebration as “very low-cost labels”.
Beijing, for its half, mentioned the election was a KMT matter and that some on-line feedback from mainland China web customers didn’t characterize an official stance.
