Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) yesterday publicized the findings of his investigation into the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) party assets that spanned 14 years and six months, calling the KMT assets “the Ring” — alluding to an object with strong, alluring powers that is hard to give up, from The Lord of the Rings.
A two-term Control Yuan member who has not been nominated to serve another term, Huang told a press conference in Taipei that he wanted to finalize the case before leaving the post as he does “not expect that there will be another member who will continue the task.”
“The KMT’s party assets are the product of an authoritarian party-state and have to be terminated for the soundness and consolidation of Taiwan’s party politics and, thereby, its democracy,” he said. “Of all the democratic countries in the world, there is no other democracy that has been troubled by a party’s assets for more than 20 years.”
He and other members who worked on the case have summarized the party’s assets into three types that they believe are of questionable origin: 114 houses and their bases that were taken over from the Japanese colonial government, 19 theaters turned over to the party for its management by the provincial special administration that was in operation from 1945 to 1947, and at least 79 public properties and 34 buildings given by local governments to the party as gifts.
More than 14 years of investigations have witnessed the party announcing its willingness to return the properties whose origins have been in doubt and actually returning some of them, Huang said.
“But the process is not complete,” he added, saying that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — who claimed in 2005 in his capacity as party chairman that the KMT would have the party-asset issue settled by 2008 — “is guilty of dereliction of duty.”
Huang said that Ma, compared with his predecessors, is probably the KMT party chairman that has exhibited the most positive attitude toward returning party assets and was once the most resolute, “but it is now 2014 and his promise has not yet been made good.”
The legislation process for regulations on political parties’ assets procured through illegitimate means has also been encountering setbacks, according to Huang.
The draft act proposed by the Executive Yuan when the Democratic Progressive Party was in power was three times sent to the Legislative Yuan, where the KMT was the majority as it is now, but every time failed to be scheduled by the Procedure Committee to be referred to the related standing committee for deliberation.
After the KMT returned to power, there have been only two meetings at the legislature’s joint committee session, in 2012, to discuss related regulations, and no result has been achieved, Huang said.
“Only when ‘the Ring’ disappears from Taiwan’s political scene can the political playing field be leveled and the spirit of social justice be materialized,” he said.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS