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One month after taking office as chairperson of the Kuomintang (KMT), Cheng Li-wen has formally launched an initiative to rebuild the Huang Fu-hsing branch. At the first meeting of the Huang Fu-hsing preparatory committee, Cheng outlined six major directions, with the most important goal being opposition to "Taiwan independence," according to the Hong Kong-based China Review News Agency (CRNA).

According to the report, preparatory work has officially begun. The first meeting of the Huang Fu-hsing preparatory committee was recently held at the KMT's central headquarters. 

At the meeting, Cheng outlined six major directions: first, clearly recognizing the current political landscape; second, reaffirming that "Huang Fu-hsing" is an indispensable stabilizing force within the KMT; third, requiring the Veterans Affairs Department to broadly solicit opinions and suggestions in order to shed its rigid, outdated image; fourth, encouraging Huang Fu-hsing members to become standouts within various party committees; fifth, integrating "heaven, earth and people" networks to win the 2026 elections and achieve a party turnover in 2028; and sixth—and most importantly—opposing "Taiwan independence," removing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from power, and safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Straits, the Asia-Pacific region, and even the world.

According to multiple media outlets on the island, before its dissolution the Huang Fu-hsing branch was the Kuomintang's only remaining "special party organization," with membership primarily comprising retired and discharged Taiwan military personnel and their family members. At its peak, the division had more than 200,000 members. It currently still has nearly 80,000 members, accounting for about one-quarter of the KMT's total membership. With strong mobilization capacity, it has wielded significant influence in internal KMT elections.

The military-aligned faction led by Chi Lin-lien, former head of the Huang Fu-hsing branch, strongly backed Cheng during the KMT chairperson election, a factor widely seen as one of the main reasons for her victory.

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao reported that Cheng's father was a political warfare major in the Taiwan Army and that she grew up in a military dependents' village in Tainan. Chi has described Cheng as a "daughter of Huang Fu-hsing," or a "Revival Heroine."

During her campaign for KMT chair, Cheng Li-wen said the Huang Fu-hsing branch is inseparable from the Kuomintang, noting that its dissolution had deeply hurt many party members. "Soldiers value honor above all else," she said, adding that the goal is not merely to restore the Huang Fu-hsing branch, but to rebuild its glory, integrate its organization, and truly make Huang Fu-hsing the KMT's strongest force. After taking office, Cheng appointed Chi Lin-lien as KMT vice chair, a move widely seen as a response to the support she received from the former Huang Fu-hsing branch.

Chi is a retired Taiwan military general who previously served as head of the Huang Fu-hsing Party Division. In a political talk show on the island, he once stated bluntly: "My ID card lists my ancestral home as Hangzhou, Zhejiang—I am a Zhejiang native; I hold a mainland travel permit—I am Taiwan resident; I am also Chinese. We are all part of the Chinese nation—who can say that is wrong?"

According to Taiwan's United Daily News, Chi recently sent an email to the KMT's Veterans Affairs Department outlining the formation of the "Huang Fu-hsing Rebuilding Preparatory Committee." The report cited Ho Chi-sheng, a veteran KMT member from the party's military faction and a former political warfare officer who is now a professor at Chihlee University of Technology, as saying that the KMT's central leadership plans to convene a meeting on December 24 to revise party organizational bylaws. The proposal would rename the current "veterans service working committee" as the "Huang Fu-hsing committee" and require party chapters at the county and city levels to adopt the same change.

Taiwan-based CredereMedia reported that on December 9, Chi submitted a proposal calling for the appointment of a "military-affiliated deputy director" in each of the KMT's 21 local party chapters across Taiwan. 

The proposal was forwarded to Vice Chair and Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung for review and final approval by Cheng. Chi has also planned to convene military-affiliated deputy directors from across the island at KMT headquarters on December 25, in what he described as a symbolic display of the military faction's reorganization and renewed unity.

It is also noteworthy that during the KMT chairmanship race, candidate Hau Lung-bin similarly voiced support for restoring the Huang Fu-hsing Party Division. According to Taiwan's China Times news portal, Hau said at the time that if elected party chair, he would help restore Huang Fu-hsing's former glory, promote cooperation between the organization and local party chapters, and establish a "Huang Fu-hsing defense think tank."

Global Times