The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said that it suspects the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is trying to sell its party assets before an anticipated Presidential Office handover to the DPP next year.
The DPP caucus told a news conference in Taipei that the Chinese-language Commercial Times has been publishing advertisements calling for buyers for 26 plots owned by the KMT — three in Taipei, six in Taichung and 17 in Changhua — and for 80 percent of the shares of a hotel in Palau.
“The contact address for all of these advertisements points to the KMT headquarters on Bade Road in Taipei,” DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said.
Photo: Lu Chun-wei, Taipei Times
Lee questioned whether the KMT is trying to sell out its party assets in different batches in order to avoid possible calls for the recovery of funds following the potential change to the nation’s governing party next year.
DPP Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that according to the information made available by the land plots’ price registration system, the money that could be amassed by the sale of the plots and the hotel shares could total more than NT$1.4 billion (US$42.27 million).
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) asked whether KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) is selling the party assets to raise the funds needed to cover the party’s election expenses, “probably including vote-buying.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Chu is the commander-in-chief of land speculation, with his party’s sales of plots of valued land,” Chen said.
Buyers are advised against purchasing these plots at a low price, as they are ill-gotten gains, DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said.
She also questioned why an affidavit of confidentiality needs to be signed when making bids for the party’s assets, as the party has demanded.
Former DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said that she has been collecting information about the asset sales for a while, stressing that she first noticed an advertisement in the Commercial Times last month calling for buyers for a hotel in Palau, and last week noticed plots for sale in Tanzih (潭子), Taichung, and Wenshan (文山), Taipei, “the ads of which were only a day apart.”
“And two months ago I found out that the KMT was selling land in Changhua, totaling about 7,400 ping (2.446 hectares), which had been leased to RT-Mart, but has recently been taken back for sale,” Hsu said.
The contact address for the four ads is the KMT’s central headquarters and the contact number is the KMT’s number with various extensions, she said.
Hsu also pointed out that the KMT has established two foundations recently.
“Compounding the land sales, it makes one wonder what the KMT is up to,” she said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS