The hopefuls lining up to lead Taiwan’s Kuomintang out of the wilderness

Half a dozen candidates could challenge incumbent KMT chairman Johnny Chiang, including talk show host Jaw Shaw-kong

Youth is on Chiang’s side and Jaw will need more than public popularity if he wants to win the post, analysts say

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A number of contenders are signalling interest in being the next Kuomintang chairman. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00am, 28 Feb 2021Updated: 10:00am, 28 Feb 2021

There is still five months to go until the election to head Taiwan’s main opposition party but already the race is shaping up to attract a big field.

Whoever wins the chairmanship of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang is expected to go on to become the party’s nominee for the island’s presidency in 2024 – or at the very least influence who that candidate will be.

And unlike the two or three people usually vying for the position, incumbent chairman Johnny Chiang could be facing half a dozen challengers for the top KMT post.

Among the best-known candidates is talk show host Jaw Shaw-kong, 70, who returned to the KMT fold in February after nearly 30 years away.

Jaw left the KMT to form the New Party in 1993 and quit politics altogether in 1996 to become a media personality. He would be a serious threat to the 48-year-old Chiang because the talk show host is very popular among the so-called pan-blue camp, which favours a Chinese nationalist identity over a separate Taiwanese one.

Also in the running are former Taipei county magistrate Chou Hsi-wei; former head of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Wei Po-tao; and Chang Ya-chung, head of KMT’s Sun Yat-sen School.

Several other KMT heavyweights, including former New Taipei magistrate Eric Chu Li-luan, former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu, and Sean Lien Sheng-wen, son of former vice-president and KMT chairman Lien Chan, are reportedly interested in the position.