Newly elected KMT chair Cheng Li-wun urges DPP to drop 'anti-China card'

Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Newly elected opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday called on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to "stop playing the anti-China card" to manipulate elections, and she denied allegations that her party is controlled by Beijing.

"I also urge the DPP not to sow hatred or division and to stop playing the China-bashing, anti-Communist, and anti-China cards just to manipulate elections and wage internal political battles," Cheng said in her victory speech at the KMT's headquarters in Taipei on Saturday evening.

Cheng, a former legislator, defeated five other candidates, including her main competitor, two-term Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), to win Saturday's election for leadership of the KMT.

"We should show the greatest sincerity and goodwill together to ease cross-strait confrontation and differences and ensure there is no more war across the Taiwan Strait," the 55-year-old Cheng said.

"I believe this is a shared responsibility of all political parties in Taiwan," she added.

Responding to reporters' questions about the allegations by some political figures that the KMT has been "red-leaning" and appears to be "controlled by China," Cheng said those were "very cheap labels."

"Whenever elections come, they rush to slap 'anti-China' and 'China-bashing' red labels [on the KMT], and that does nothing to advance Taiwan," she said.

"On the contrary, it has become the biggest source of infighting and stagnation in Taiwan." Cheng said, urging politicians not to irresponsibly use "red labels" as a weapon in political fights.

Elections results, responses from other parties

Shortly before Cheng's speech, KMT Vice Chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), head of the team supervising the election, said the vote counting had largely concluded.

"Cheng Li-wun received the most votes and was elected" chairperson of the party, he announced.

In the final count, Cheng gained 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the total, while Hau trailed at 35.85 percent with 46,551 votes, according to the KMT.

The race used a plurality -- first-past-the-post -- system, under which the top vote-getter won without needing an absolute majority.

Turnout was 130,678, or 39.46 percent of the 331,145 eligible party members, according to the KMT.

The other four candidates, Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), former Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), former National Assembly member Tsai Chih-hung (蔡志弘), and Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), president of the NGO Sun Yat-sen School, gained 10.40 percent, 1.5 percent, 0.2 percent, and 1.91 percent, respectively.

Following Cheng's victory, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), chairman of the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP), said in a news release that he hoped the TPP and KMT would deepen exchanges, gradually build mutual trust, and establish a model of coalition governance.

DPP spokesperson Wu Cheng (吳崢) said in a news release that the party hopes the KMT will exercise rational oversight in the Legislature, put the national interest above party interests, and work together to handle the current national security challenges posed by China's infiltration.

Cheng's background

Cheng served as a legislator from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2020 to 2024, and as Cabinet spokesperson from 2012 to 2014 during the KMT administration of then-President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

It was her first run for the top KMT post, and her victory Saturday made her the second woman to be elected party chairperson, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017.

Cheng entered politics as a member of the DPP but left in 2002, before joining the KMT in 2005.

A graduate of National Taiwan University's (NTU) College of Law, Cheng was active in student movements while at NTU and took part in the Wild Lily student movement -- a 1990 pro-democracy sit-in in Taipei that pressed the then-ruling KMT administration for direct elections and broader democratization.

She also holds a master's degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and a Master of Laws from Temple University in the United States, according to Legislative Yuan records.

In a televised debate on Oct. 11, Cheng said that one of the mandates of her party is to make peace between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party. If elected, she said, she would be happy to meet with the Chinese leader -- referring to President Xi Jinping (習近平).

Cheng is slated to succeed incumbent KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1, beginning a four-year term.

The election was marred by controversy over short videos posted on social media platforms that appeared to attack Hau, leading him to accuse "foreign internet forces" of spreading false content to smear him, in an Oct. 9 Facebook post, which many felt was alluding to China.