Despite the assertion by Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), when he was acting chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), that all of the party’s assets were acquired through legitimate means, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday asked for an investigation of the issue, which is to be conducted by “impartial” public figures.
At the first meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee since his inauguration as chairman on Monday, Chu, who is also mayor of New Taipei City, said he has commissioned Jennifer Wang (王如玄), a lawyer and a former Council of Labor Affairs minister, and KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) to form a team of party members known for their impartiality and professionalism to look into the assets issue.
The team is to go through documents related to the party’s assets and its financial status and produce a report, an idea that had been suggested to Chu throughout his campaign for chairman, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Chu has promised that any of the KMT’s assets — which critics call “ill-gotten” because they were allegedly taken by the party from the Japanese colonial government, private businesses and individuals when the KMT took control of Taiwan after World War II — found to be illegally acquired by the party will be returned to the nation.
Chu’s pledge came despite Wu telling a committee meeting at the end of last month that there were no assets obtained through improper means following a briefing by then-KMT Administration Committee head Lin Te-jui (林德瑞).
Aside from the party’s assets, Chu asked KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to revamp the National Policy Foundation, the party’s think tank, to “function as it is supposed to” and KMT Vice Chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) to lead a team to discuss how to reshape the party.
Chu said he is aiming to turn the KMT into a highly effective self-made party dedicated to volunteerism.
At the meeting, committee member Lin Rong-te (林榮德), with more than 20 cosigners, proposed that the party withdraw its appeal of the ruling in favor of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) retaining his party membership.
The KMT, then led by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), revoked Wang’s membership amid allegations that he had used his influence to try and affect the outcome of a legal case in 2013.
The Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office accused Wang of meddling in a breach of trust lawsuit on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) by urging two high-ranking judicial officials to influence a prosecutor into refraining from appealing Ker’s not-guilty verdict.
Chu decided to postpone a decision on Lin’s proposal until new chairperson of the Central Evaluation and Discipline Committee, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), presents a plan to the committee next week to reform the evaluation and discipline system.
Throughout Chu’s campaign, he hinted at the possibility that the party would rescind its decision to revoke Wang’s membership in an effort to boost morale.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS