News from October 20, 2025

Taiwan’s KMT Has a New Chair

Dark horse candidate Cheng Li-wun has won the Kuomintang (KMT) party chair election, defying predictions that former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin would take the chair in a clean sweep. Despite having been mostly out of the public eye in the last decade, Hau was, after all, a former Taipei mayor, traditionally a stepping stone to the presidency. Apart from that, Hau was believed to enjoy the support of military veterans, a major portion of the KMT base, because his father, Hau Pei-tsun, was a well-known former general. In the end, Cheng won by large margins, leading to an early declaration of her victory by outgoing KMT chair Eric Chu. Cheng, 55, will be the KMT’s second female party chair. The first, Hung Hsiu-chu, ran for party chair and became the KMT’s 2016 presidential candidate (before having the nomination rescinded due to her abysmal poll figures) during a significant power vacuum in the KMT. Comparisons between Cheng and Hung are inevitable given similarities in their candidacies. Cheng overtook Hau in a meteoric rise after performing strongly in initial polling about the preferred KMT presidential chair. Hung’s rise occurred in a similar manner. She was not previously seen as a party heavyweight before unexpectedly throwing her hat into the ring for the KMT’s 2016 presidential nomination and later the KMT’s chair race. Her rise was seen as unexpected, in spite of Hung having long served in various political positions in the KMT. Cheng, too, is not a political newcomer. She previously served in the National Assembly in 2005 before electoral reforms transferred the National Assembly’s powers to the current Legislative Yuan. Cheng was also a spokesperson for the Executive Yuan from 2012 to 2014 during the Ma administration, and served as a KMT legislator from 2020 to 2024. Cheng, in fact, made her political debut with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but was among the pan-Green politicians who defected to the pan-Blue camp during the Chen administration. Also like Hung, Cheng is seen as a hardline deep blue politician on cross-strait relations. Cheng has stated that she hopes to see Taiwanese “proud to be Chinese.” In a public debate between KMT chair hopefuls, she argued that “Taiwan and the mainland should join forces to reach new heights in human civilization.” At a time when the Trump administration has tried to push Taiwan to increase defense spending to 10 percent of its GDP and threatened to suspend support for Taiwan if it does not comply, Cheng does not support a rise in military expenditure. Cheng has stated that she does not wish to see Taiwanese youth sent to die on the battlefield, as in Ukraine, and suggested that the United States uses Taiwan as an “ATM” by forcing expensive arms purchases. Cheng, too, has stated that she would be willing to travel to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This raises the possibility that Cheng will do just that in her capacity as KMT party chair, circling around the remit of the Lai administration. Previous KMT party chairs such as Hung Hsiu-chu and Eric Chu have held such meetings with Xi in China. Likewise, Cheng has stated that she supports the 1992 Consensus, now increasingly unpopular in Taiwan. The KMT’s 2024 presidential candidate, Hou Yu-ih, was initially reluctant to endorse it. Comments like these may have contributed to other candidates’ accusations that Cheng’s KMT chair bid was backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite also being a deep blue figure, media commentator Jaw Shaw-kong accused China of seeking to interfere in the KMT chair elections by backing Cheng. Jaw, the party’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, had previously considered running for KMT chair, but backed out in favor of Hau after a meeting between the two. In the wake of Jaw’s allegations, other KMT chair candidates alleged that Cheng could potentially be backed by the CCP. Questions were raised regarding videos on social media produced outside of Taiwan about the KMT chair election, perhaps with the aim of strengthening media attention focused on Cheng. The accusations against Cheng of being China’s preferred pick did not prevent her victory in the KMT chair elections. Current party chair Eric Chu has called on her to unite the party. Chu would have been eligible to run for re-election as KMT chair, but initially announced that he hoped to back out in favor of Taichung mayor Lu Shiow-yen. Lu is popularly seen as a frontrunner for the KMT’s 2028 presidential nomination, but she demurred on the idea of running for KMT chair. Lu was likely wary of the possibility that a role as KMT party chair could weaken her position in contending for the 2028 presidential nomination. If the party were to suffer losses in the 2026 “nine-in-one” local elections, the KMT chair would be held responsible. The possibility of Cheng running for president has never been raised, as Lu Shiow-yen continues to be the KMT’s early frontrunner for the 2028 nomination. Yet Cheng’s tenure as party chair could impact the possibility of a Lu presidential bid, particularly as a strong component of Lu’s electability is the public perception that she is a moderate on cross-strait issues. If Cheng continues to lean into hardline views on cross-strait relations, this could undermine Lu’s messaging. Unlike the 2021 KMT chair election that put Eric Chu in power, there did not appear to be any move to unite behind a more moderate candidate to block a hardline deep blue candidate from winning. It is generally thought that Chu’s victory occurred because supporters of party reformist Johnny Chiang switched their vote to Chu to prevent deep blue insurgent candidate Chang Ya-chung from winning. Chang also ran for party chair this time around, but the deep blue vote was not split between Chang and Cheng in such a manner as to prevent Cheng’s victory. This points to the changing internal dynamics in the KMT at present, and perhaps the way in which the party's internal cross-strait views may still be at odds with those of the general public. It can be expected that the DPP will lean into attacks on Cheng over her alleged ties with China and her statements on cross-strait relations.

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