Former KMT chairman Eric Chu said that the party needs to look within in order to win back voters. (Photo : Getty Images)
The chairman of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) party stepped down on Monday following the party’s defeat in the island’s elections, the Global Times reported.
Outgoing KMT chairman Eric Chu formally announced to the party's central standing committee that he would hand over the party's affairs to the acting chairwoman, Huang Ming-hui, the local press reported on Monday.
"As party chairman I have let everybody down," a visibly distraught Chu said in a prepared statement. "I will never forget that the KMT lost the power to govern under my chairmanship."
Chu said Huang will assume his responsibilities and prepare for the election of the new KMT chairman, which will take place after the Lunar New Year.
He also shared his expectations on the next party leader, saying that the chairman must propose major reforms that reflect support from both the public and party members.
"The KMT has to establish this kind of tradition; the leader must take responsibility," Chu said, adding that he will reflect on the general conditions and other factors that accounted for the party's loss at the polls.
Chu said he will return to his post as mayor of New Taipei, from which he took a temporary leave in October to tend to his presidential run, and apologized for delays in the governance of city affairs caused by his absence.
Yao Chiang-lin, a member of KMT's Central Standing Committee, said that the party is in a quandary and needs someone with experience to lead it.
Some analysts say the party should focus on gaining the support of young people.
Taiwan's younger generation is abandoning the KMT, Tang Shao-cheng, a scholar at the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University in Taipei, told the Global Times.
Taiwan's national elections saw a record-low turnout of 66.27 percent on Saturday, with the KMT suffering its worst defeat in history.
Former U.S, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met with outgoing Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou and his successor Tsai Ing-wen on Monday. In response, China's foreign ministry expressed concern over the planned visit of the U.S. envoy, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
"We urge the U.S. side to do more things conducive to the stable development of China-U.S. relations and the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Straits, not vice versa," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
