Evergreen chairman Chang Jung-fa (
Evergreen Group is one of the nation's biggest shipping companies. It owns EVA Airways Corp and Evergreen Marine Corp.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chuen-po (詹春柏) was unwilling to confirm the identity of the buyer yesterday when talking to reporters at the party headquarters.
"The headquarters were sold to a prominent local enterprise and will be used for cultural and educational purposes," he said.
Chan was happy to answer other questions, however.
When asked about the buyer's political affiliation, Chan said that the KMT was concerned only with the buyer's reputation, the sale price and the use to which the building would be put.
"Evergreen means `green,' which is a color you can see everywhere ... The chairman of the Evergreen Group is a successful entrepreneur. We don't pay attention to his political affiliation," Chan said.
Chang is known to be a supporter of the pan-green camp.
On whether the building would be painted green after the Evergreen Group takes over, Chan said: "The buyer has its preference. It's their choice."
Once the deal is finalized, the KMT is expected to move its headquarters to a smaller building on Bade Road.
The 12-story building was built in 1995 and boasts an exhibition room on the first floor, offices on the second through 10th floors, the chairman and vice chairmen's offices on the 11th floor and meeting and banquet rooms on the 12th floor.
The building's NT$40 million annual maintenance fee has, however, become a heavy burden for the cash-strapped KMT.
The luxurious building is also not consistent with the clean, modest image that KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Given these financial and symbolic concerns, the KMT decided to sell the building and move to a new location.
The decision was made despite opposition from many older party officials who argued that the party should not sell its "spiritual fort."
The remaining details of the deal will be resolved once Ma returns from the US at the end of the month.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai urged the buyer to think twice before signing the contract.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would