The direct line between the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) treasury and the national treasury during the authoritarian era gave the KMT access to unlimited resources. For a long time, it used these resources to support its party employees, giving out small favors.
During elections, the KMT spent money on mobilizing supporters and vote buying. However, after its defeat in the January presidential and legislative elections, it is now just a party without the backing of the state. With the legislature’s passing of 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), it will be difficult for the party to reverse its downward spiral.
However, still it tries to hold onto its assets. KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) called in the four of her predecessors, who used to be responsible for the KMT’s assets, or perhaps used to enjoy the biggest benefits, so that they could all play at unity and protect their ill-gotten wealth. These four claimed that the party has already dealt with the issue and all its assets are legal. Only one of them said that the worst-case scenario could be that all party assets would have to be returned to the state.
One of these men — someone who claims to have a global outlook — said that the party’s ability to amass national assets was something to be proud of, domestically and internationally. He is hoping to play the same old tricks that he used to pull during his time as a paid student informer in the US. He even made the farcical suggestion that the party should bring the matter to the attention of the international media.
Those responsible for recovering the KMT’s stolen assets found an opening, as former KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) agreed to serve on the Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement. This has rattled the KMT, which is acting like a criminal gang in throwing invectives at Yang and saying it has never done anything against him or treated him unfairly.
Yang has enjoyed all the benefits of belonging to the KMT, and according to its party-state mindset and criminal gang world view, anyone in that position should be grateful and always back the party even if all the benefits they enjoyed and funds used to train them into being the party’s hatchet men came from stolen goods.
The KMT believes that people like Yang should not cooperate in the effort to achieve transitional justice and reveal what has happened to its loot. It is afraid that Yang will give them all away.
Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) knows what he is doing, and he acted both decisively and quickly in recruiting Yang. He should find a few more people like Yang among the KMT’s members. Only someone who has been active inside the party is able to offer more reliable information.
If such people are willing to stand up in the name of justice and help recover ill-gotten assets, they would be providing valuable assistance in consolidating Taiwan’s democracy.
The nation sorely needs transitional justice, and the vast majority of the public are in favor of it. Some current or former KMT members who know what is really going on misguidedly joined the party-state apparatus in the past and joined in with the embezzlement of state and private assets.
One can only wonder why they continue to keep silent and help protect the assets of a party that keeps spouting nonsense about the treasures in the National Palace Museum and the gold that the Nationalist government brought with when it fled China.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought renewed scrutiny to the Taiwan-US semiconductor relationship with his claim that Taiwan “stole” the US chip business and threats of 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made processors. For Taiwanese and industry leaders, understanding those developments in their full context is crucial while maintaining a clear vision of Taiwan’s role in the global technology ecosystem. The assertion that Taiwan “stole” the US’ semiconductor industry fundamentally misunderstands the evolution of global technology manufacturing. Over the past four decades, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has grown through legitimate means
RSS