Taiwanese college students grill KMT chair after speech

Описание: KMT Chair Cheng Li-wun criticized questions from students and a professor during her speech at Soochow University, describing the questioners as politically motivated and “unqualified.”

During the 90-minute audience interaction, political science professor Chen Fang-yu raised questions about the KMT’s political positions and its impact on Taiwan, but Cheng did not respond directly, instead attributing the questions to media bias.

Cheng also criticized the DPP for prioritizing the retention of power and using Taiwan independence as an electoral tool, while Chen pointed to her past DPP membership from 1988 to 2002 and her earlier calls to dismantle the KMT.

Chen further challenged Cheng’s remarks on democracy — including her repeated insistence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator — as well as her optimistic view of cross-strait relations despite China’s military buildup around Taiwan, the KMT’s opposition to defense budget funding, and former president Ma Ying-jeou’s cuts to military procurement and intelligence operations.

He disputed Cheng’s claim that the KMT is financially struggling, citing assets far exceeding those of the DPP, and criticized KMT-backed legislation affecting young people, including stalled reforms to public servant pensions.

Chen added that Cheng’s speech offered little detail on concrete KMT reform plans and failed to clarify that a recent prosecutorial investigation of a party branch was tied to alleged falsified signatures in a planned recall of DPP Legislator Wang Mei-hui.