TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's former Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) on Tuesday (March 7) announced his intention to run in the 2024 presidential elections, while claiming the country is "entering its doom."
According to Taiwan's election laws, to be eligible to run, Wang needs to collect 282,104 signatures, representing 1.5% of registered voters from the last national election, by September.
Currently, the political parties eligible to nominate presidential candidates based on previous elections are the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP). Potential candidates at this point are Vice President and DPP Chairman Lai Ching-te (賴清德), New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) of the KMT, and former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the TPP, while Foxconn founder and billionare Terry Gou (郭台銘), who is looking to return to the KMT, has also said he is interested in running.
Wang served as the head of the Control Yuan under the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration between 2008 and 2014 and as finance minister between 1990 and 1992. The 84-year-old Wang is known for his tax expertise and wide range of philanthropic activities.
In 1993, he left the KMT after a feud with other party factions and co-founded the pro-China New Party with other former prominent KMT members. The New Party advocates peaceful unification with China and is opposed to Taiwan's independence, while it has failed to secure any legislative seats since 2016 and has become increasingly marginalized.
Wang told the media that Taiwan should have diverse political views. He said he feels that the DPP's pro-independence views and the KMT's ambiguity between pro-unification and pro-independence will lead to Taiwan's doom if China decides to invade.
"Taiwan is now in an extremely dangerous situation, and I will join the race for the good of the people," Wang said in an interview with Awakening News. He claimed the DPP was too friendly to the U.S. and obsessed with power at the expense of the people.
"The NT$500 billion in arms deals with the U.S. should all be scrapped," Wang said. The pro-China candidate claimed that the weapons were unnecessary due to his belief that "Chinese won't attack Chinese."
Despite his opposition to U.S. arms sales, he emphasized that he is not anti-American and is grateful for the decade-long financial aid the U.S. provided to Taiwan between 1951 and 1965. Wang is expected to formerly announce his presidential bid in Taipei on March 29.