Four candidates seek chairmanship of KMT

Four people have registered to contest the chairmanship of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang at an election scheduled for Sept 25, with the candidates all proposing the resumption of dialogue with the Chinese mainland and strengthening exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.

KMT Chairman Chiang Chi-chen, who will run for reelection, said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he had made a number of proposals for the development of cross-Straits relations.

Chiang said that peaceful, stable and mutually beneficial cross-Straits relations are the key to stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the KMT is capable of handling cross-Straits relations well.

He said the KMT should devote itself to dialogue with mainland society and bring the peoples of the two sides closer.

Education on Chinese culture and history in Taiwan should be reinvigorated and people-to-people exchanges should be guaranteed to lay the foundation for a return to peace across the Straits, he added.

Chiang proposed launching a cross-Straits peace and development council to promote dialogues between different generations, classes and parties in Taiwan to build a social consensus that could serve as a reference for the future of the two sides of the Straits.

He criticized the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, with its "Taiwan independence "stance, for failing to maintain the peaceful status quo in the past five years, which had led to frequent military activities around the Taiwan Straits.

Eric Chu Li-luan, who was KMT chairman from 2015 to 2016, registered his candidacy on Monday. He said last week that if elected, he will restore the platform of cross-Straits exchanges as soon as possible, so that the KMT can play a role in cross-Straits stability and peace.

Chu expressed the hope that the two sides could seek common ground and respect differences and become more peaceful, stable and prosperous. He said he will ensure smoother exchanges and communication between the two sides.

Cho Po-yuan, the former head of the island's Changhua county, called for more exchanges between the two sides when he completed his registration on Tuesday.

Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung also registered his candidacy on Tuesday. He said he will work to establish an office on the mainland to facilitate people-to-people exchanges across the Straits and sign a peace agreement with the mainland.