The latest data published by the Ministry of the Interior on political party assets showed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made NT$3.5 billion (US$121.5 million) last year, with stock dividends accounting for almost NT$2.9 billion, making up more than four-fifths of the party’s total earnings.
The ministry’s data showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) promises to clean up the KMT and its assets have been nothing but a lie.
Getting rid of stolen party assets was a major goal for Ma when he first took over as KMT chairman in 2005; he pledged to dispose of all contentious assets, cease operating for-profit corporations and make the party “asset-free” by 2008.
He reiterated this promise in 2006 and said the party would no longer depend on its assets to cover election spending. The promise was mentioned again in 2009 when Ma was re-elected as party chairman, as he said the party would present “final solutions” to its assets problem and donate the proceeds of the sales to charity. Those promises, as it turned out, were empty words. Most of the proceeds from the sale of party assets were used to cover personnel expenditures and office rent, which was more than half of the KMT’s annual spending of NT$2.6 billion, according to the ministry’s data. So far, no proceeds from the sales have gone to any charities. KMT sources also confirmed that the party paid to set up Ma’s re-election campaign office and took care of campaign staff salaries
How could an “asset-free” KMT make NT$2.9 billion last year through stock dividends? According to information the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) released last week, the KMT earned the stock dividends via its remaining party asset — Central Investment Holding Co.
The company and its spin-off, “Hsinyutai Co,” invested NT$18 billion in the local stock market last year and received NT$2.9 billion in dividends, the information showed.
Central Investment Holding, with a net worth of about NT$20 billion, is the last of the party’s assets.
The KMT has failed in four attempts to sell Central Investment Holding via public bidding since 2006, blaming the global financial crisis for the failed sales. After Ma took over as president, he defended his administration’s efforts to resuscitate the economy. Under an improved economy, however, the bidding process for Central Investment Holding remained stalled.
Illicit assets are a historical burden that Ma and the KMT must face. If Ma was determined to get rid of the party’s stolen assets and do away with the KMT’s “black-gold” image, he should donate stock dividends obtained from those illicit assets and depend solely on donations and party fees for election spending.
He should also fulfill another promise he made in 2005, to facilitate the passage of the political party act (政黨法). The act, one of the four so-called “sunshine laws,” is aimed at banning political parties from operating or investing in profit-making enterprises, including television and radio stations. Passing the act would prove the Ma administration’s resolution to address the issue of party assets and help the KMT earn more public trust.
Using party assets to subsidize election campaigns gives the KMT an unfair advantage over its main rival, the DPP, whose total income last year was only NT$626 million.
If Ma and the KMT fail to take action to get rid of party assets, the KMT can hardly claim to hold the moral high ground.
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
A media report has suggested that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was considering initiating a vote of no confidence in Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in a bid to “bring down the Cabinet.” The KMT has denied that this topic was ever discussed. Why might such a move have even be considered? It would have been absurd if it had seen the light of day — potentially leading to a mass loss of legislative seats for the KMT even without the recall petitions already under way. Today the second phase of the recall movement is to begin — which has
RSS