KMT Restores Huang Fuxing Branches, Expands Eight Departments to Boost Grassroots Military.

The Kuomintang (KMT) held its Central Standing Committee meeting today and officially passed an important resolution regarding the adjustment of its internal organizational structure, deciding to restore the relevant establishment of the Huang Fuhsing branch, which historically possessed strong mobilization capabilities and political influence. According to the KMT central leadership's plan, the internal organization of the central party headquarters will expand from seven major departments to eight, officially establishing a "Huang Fuhsing Committee." Simultaneously, to prevent overlapping duties and responsibilities and to streamline administrative efficiency, the party leadership also simultaneously disbanded the Veterans Department previously under the jurisdiction of the Organizational Development Committee, officially incorporating its related operations and personnel into the newly established Huang Fuhsing Committee. The KMT stated publicly that the core objective of this organizational adjustment is to more comprehensively and deeply gather and reflect the public opinion trends of military-affiliated communities, including active-duty officers and soldiers, retired and discharged service members, and the broad network of military dependents, thereby further strengthening the KMT's grassroots organizational combat power and consolidating the cohesion of military-affiliated voters.

Reviewing the history of the KMT's organizational development, the Huang Fuhsing branch—officially named the "National Retired and Discharged Personnel Branch"—has long been regarded as the KMT's most tightly knit, highly cohesive, and efficiently mobilized elite vanguard unit. The Huang Fuhsing branch has historically played a pivotal role within the party. Whether in party chairmanship elections, successive presidential and legislative elections, or the mobilization of various major political issues, military-affiliated voters and their dependents have consistently demonstrated exceptionally high voter turnout and loyalty. However, with the passage of time, political party rotation, and the transformation of Taiwan's social structure, voices calling for the review and reform of the Huang Fuhsing branch's organization have continuously emerged within the KMT in recent years. During his tenure, former party Chairman Chiang Chi-chen attempted to promote the rejuvenation and organizational downsizing of the Huang Fuhsing branch, while current party Chairman Eric Chu, upon taking office, also demoted and restructured the Huang Fuhsing branch into the Veterans Department under the Organizational Development Committee based on party modernization and financial considerations, which at the time triggered anxiety and backlash among some deep-blue military-affiliated members.

The KMT's decision to reinstate the independent committee establishment of the Huang Fuhsing branch reflects deep-seated political strategic considerations and realistic organizational demands. After experiencing setbacks and trials in multiple national elections, the KMT leadership has gradually realized that although the proportion of traditional military-affiliated voters in Taiwan's demographic structure has been progressively diluted, their political mobilization power, issue-leading capacity, and emotional attachment to traditional KMT values demonstrated at critical moments remain an indispensable and stable cornerstone within the party. After the Veterans Department was demoted in the past, some grassroots military-affiliated party members frequently reported to the central leadership that their voices could not reach the top directly, resulting in a communication gap between the party headquarters and the veteran community, and even affecting the precision of the KMT's discourse on national defense issues. Therefore, upgrading the Huang Fuhsing Committee to one of the eight major departments of the central party headquarters is not merely an adjustment of organizational name and rank; it is also a strong political signal sent by the central leadership to the military-affiliated community, intended to mend potential communication gaps of the past and regain the centripetal force of the military's ironclad voting bloc.

From the perspective of party competition and organizational combat power, facing the ever-changing domestic political situation, the KMT is actively seeking to strengthen its organizational combat power across various fields. In addition to retired and discharged service members, military-affiliated voters encompass a vast population of active-duty officers, soldiers, and military dependents. This group often holds deep concerns and professional insights regarding national safety, defense policies, veteran welfare systems, and cross-strait relations. Through the establishment of the Huang Fuhsing Committee, the KMT hopes to build a more efficient public opinion collection and response mechanism, which will not only listen to the appeals of retired comrades regarding livelihood care and rights protection, but also accurately grasp the genuine thoughts of active-duty military personnel and their families regarding the current national defense situation. In future political offensives and electoral layouts, this brand-new committee will be entrusted with the heavy responsibility of connecting veteran associations, comrade associations, and military dependents' village networks across the country, transforming fragmented military public opinion into concrete political action and ballot support.

Reviewing the KMT's Central Standing Committee resolution this time, it is not only a major revision of the party's internal organizational structure, but also an important step for the party to solidify its base when facing future political challenges. In Taiwan's pluralistic and fragmented political ecosystem, the existence, abolition, and positioning of the Huang Fuhsing branch have always influenced the internal political power balance and ideological trajectory of the KMT. Elevating the Huang Fuhsing Committee to a first-tier department of the central party headquarters demonstrates the KMT leadership's determination to consolidate traditional support forces. Whether this newly reorganized committee can unleash strong organizational combat power as expected, effectively gather and transmit military public opinion, and further expand its influence among the younger generation of military personnel and the general public will be an important indicator for observing the KMT's organizational transformation and future campaign strategies.