Former Control Yuan President Wang Chien-hsien (???) on Wednesday announced he will run as an independent in the 2024 presidential race on a platform of peaceful unification with China to secure the interests of its 23 million people.
“It is time for me to stand up, as Taiwan has been sinking and cross-strait relations have deteriorated to the point of being on the verge of war,” the 84-year-old Wang said in a radio interview.
Neither the major opposition Kuomintang’s insistence on “no declaration of unification or independence” nor the idea of Taiwan independence long talked about by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party will lead the country anywhere, he argued.
“What Taiwan needs the most is peaceful unification with mainland China, because that will serve the interests of Taiwan, the mainland and the rest of the world,” he said.
He added that peaceful unification between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be the central theme of his campaign platform, given that Taiwan will be finished if it continues to be totally dependent on the United States as it is at present.
Though a member of the pro-unification New Party, Wang said he will take part in the presidential election as an independent to avoid having to go through the red tape of nomination procedures.
If elected, Wang promised to form a task force to collect opinions from all walks of life in Taiwan before launching peace talks in the first year of taking office and signing an agreement with mainland China in the second year as means of securing the maximum rights and benefits for Taiwan’s 23 million people.
Wang’s candidacy would be an extreme longshot at best, given that support in Taiwan for unification with China has barely reached double digits in polls for many years.
According to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, in order to run as an independent, Wang is required to collect signatures from eligible voters totaling at least 1.5 percent of the voting eligible population in the last presidential or legislative election within 45 days of registering as a candidate.
The threshold for the 2020 presidential election was 282,104.
Political parties whose candidates gained at least 5 percent of the valid votes cast in the latest presidential election or legislative election may nominate candidates directly.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel