The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday agreed that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had indeed changed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as he claimed in the presidential debate over the weekend, but said he changed the party “in a bad way.”
DPP spokespeople told a press conference that Ma had made the KMT “a richer and a more corrupt party” during his chairmanship.
The DPP comments came in response to a comment Ma made in Saturday’s presidential debate in which he said that he had changed the KMT, while the DPP had changed DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The value of the KMT’s assets under Ma’s leadership has ballooned from NT$156.1 billion (US$5.17 billion) in 2007 to more than NT$200 billion today, an increase of almost NT$50 billion, DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said, citing statistics and media reports.
The increase came from the Central Investment Holding Co’s stock dividends of NT$6.9 billion, a NT$4.2 billion profit from a property development plan near Taipei Railway Station and a NT$20 billion profit from a property sale by the National Development and Research Institute, which was considered an illegal seizure of national property, Kang said.
A total of 44 KMT legislators, township mayors and local councilors, all of whom were nominated by Ma, have been stripped of their duties for vote-buying or corruption as of yesterday, while more than 12 similar cases are still being processed in courts, DPP -spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
“Ma did change the KMT by making the party more corrupt. Rampant vote-buying has caused political instability and wasted national resources because of the many by-elections [as a result of annulled election results],” Lin said.
Ma has also changed Taiwan’s wealth distribution by increasing income disparity, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
Citing statistics on the ratio of household income compiled by the Ministry of Finance’s Financial Data Center, Chen said the income of the wealthiest 5 percent of Taiwan’s population was almost 75 times that of the bottom 5 -percent in 2009, compared with 60 times in 2007, when the DPP was in power.
Ma cited other data in the debate — the household income ratio of the top 20 percent and the lowest 20 percent — to back up his performance, but his calculations were incorrect, Chen said.
The ratios in the past three years — 6.05 in 2008, 6.34 in 2009 and 6.19 last year — were all higher than the 5.98 recorded in 2007, showing that income disparity has worsened under the Ma administration, Chen said, adding that the same data suggests that Ma’s efforts to reduce the wealth gap by taxation and various government charges and fees have been in vain.
While Ma said he had tried to help the poor by cutting taxes, statistics showed that the president reduced more taxes for the rich, Chen said.
The Ma administration has reduced corporate taxes by NT$200.75 billion between 2008 and this year, he said, while tax reductions for ordinary people in the same period only amounted to NT$81.8 billion.
“It appears to us that Ma has chosen to stand on the same side as the rich. It’s no surprise that several business leaders have publicly voiced their support for Ma in recent weeks,” Chen said.
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers