The nation has transformed itself from an authoritarian state into a democracy, and Taiwanese are now hoping to throw off the one-party state past with the implementation of long overdue transitional justice reforms. However, judging by remarks by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and her predecessors, the KMT remains stuck in its “party-state” days.
Hung met on Friday with four of her predecessors to discuss the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例).
In an apparent attempt to dispel criticism over the KMT’s stolen assets, Hung spoke about the party’s contributions to Taiwan’s development, saying that most of the National Palace Museum’s collections as well as the gold used to fund the nation’s development were brought from China by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — in a decision he made in his capacity as KMT chairman, not as the Republic of China (ROC) president.
Attending the New Party’s 23th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Hung went further, saying that in the party-state days, even the Bureau of Investigation could be considered a KMT-affiliated organization, so the public should not scrutinize the KMT’s historical actions through contemporary lenses.
If the nation wants to make a reckoning, the KMT would do exactly that, adding: “Let us see whether the ROC owes the KMT more, or vice versa.”
It seems the KMT has become so desperate to guard its assets that Hung was forced to acknowledge that the party and Chiang never saw the need to separate the party from the state and stole assets from the government.
Her remarks only prove that the KMT amassed its wealth through ill-gotten means by mixing state assets with party assets and siphoning wealth from government coffers during its decades of authoritarian rule.
The remarks also suggest that the KMT taking over assets from the Japanese colonial government after World War II, and confiscating private property, are but a few examples of its long litany of misappropriating property belonging to the government and individuals.
Even more disturbing was the matter-of-fact way in which Hung made these statements, as if the KMT still thinks it owns this nation.
Hung — and others in the party — still appear unable to distinguish between the party and the government, or to understand that the people, not the KMT, are the masters of the nation.
Equally laughable is the suggestion from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a former KMT chairman, that the party could appeal to international media over the party asset issue and passage of the “controversial” act passed by the Democratic Progressive Party-controlled legislature.
Taiwanese do not mind if the KMT wants to air its dirty laundry on the global stage.
However, Ma’s words come as a timely reminder: The government should also ask the KMT if it has hidden any of its ill-gotten assets overseas.
Even KMT Culture and Communications Committee Director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said the issue is a “complex mix of history and politics.”
However, just as Taiwan has been transformed from an authoritarian state into a democracy, the KMT and its leaders must realize that times have changed and they must keep pace.
The more the KMT tries to cling to its stolen assets, the more it loses the public’s trust and the further it falls in public approval ratings.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest naval exercise in the region, are aimed at deepening international collaboration and interaction while strengthening tactical capabilities and flexibility in tackling maritime crises. China was invited to participate in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but it was excluded this year. The underlying reason is that Beijing’s ambitions of regional expansion and challenging the international order have raised global concern. The world has made clear its suspicions of China, and its exclusion from RIMPAC this year will bring about a sea change in years to come. The purpose of excluding China is primarily
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the