KMT backs Kaohsiung mayor for poll

The Chinese Kuomintang on Sunday approved the nomination of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu as the party’s candidate for the 2020 Taiwan leadership election to be held next January.

Wu Den-yih, chairman of the KMT, made the announcement at the party’s general congress.

Both Wu and Han stressed at the congress that “there has to be a cross-Strait relationship for peace, stability and development.”

The KMT announced on July 15 that Han had won the party’s primary poll for next year’s election with an average support of 44.8 percent.

On July 17, Wu announced that the KMT central standing committee had nominated Han as the party’s candidate for the 2020 election.

Han was relative unknown until he seized the Kaohsiung mayoralty in local elections last year, a shock win in the southern city that has long been a heartland of incumbent Democratic Progressive Party.

To become the KMT’s candidate, Han had beaten four other contenders, including Taiwan’s richest man, billionaire Foxconn founder Terry Gou. He has shown support for the one-China policy, saying Taiwan is part of China.