KMT chair Cheng Li-wun on leading the party: "like a mother coaxing children"

Sep 14, 2026

Taiwan's main opposition party has a leader who says the hardest part of the job is not fighting rivals but holding her own side together — a candid look at a party still struggling with internal splits.

  • Cheng Li-wun compares running the KMT to heading a big extended family, where much of her time is spent soothing egos.
  • She says taking on the DPP is easy; the real problem is the KMT's lack of money and its weak position online and in the media.
  • Long-running internal problems have never gone away, and changing people's minds is the hardest task of all.
  • She leans on the idea that a united house prospers, pointing to family businesses that survived because they stayed together.
  • Off camera she describes herself as quiet, socially anxious, never answers her phone, and unwinds with light TV.

Outlook: Expect her leadership to be judged on whether she can unify a cash-poor, media-weak KMT before the next round of elections.

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