Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] has stolen billions of dollars from the people over the past century. They never returned the money to the people. Can this be called `clean?'" Su said.
"Can a party that has robbed the nation of billions of dollars call itself a party of integrity?" he said.
"In addition, the KMT and its People First Party [PFP] ally have boycotted our arms purchase plan 56 times during legislative meetings. They have not even wanted to talk about it on the legislative floor. Can this be called `protecting Taiwan no matter what it takes?'" the premier said in his opening speech at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
Su said the Control Yuan had requested that the Cabinet investigate the KMT's illegal assets in 2001.
The result of the investigation showed that the KMT had assets that were supposed to belong to the government worth more than NT$20 billion (US$613 million). Five years later, the KMT has returned NT$1.3 billion worth. The Ministry of Finance has filed requests with the KMT asking it to return the remaining stolen assets over the past five years but these have been ignored.
Su said that the Cabinet had in 2002 submitted legislation that aimed to outline the procedure for handling political party's illegally acquired assets.
The proposal is still pending because the KMT has vetoed it 42 times.
"As for the arms purchase proposal, we have fixed the proposal and tried everything we can to negotiate with them [the pan-blue camp]. However, this proposal is also pending. They do not even want to discuss it on the legislative floor," Su said.
The premier said that the government currently needs the legislature's help regarding the budget to construct anti-flood facilities.
"I am trying to make [the pan-blue camp] understand that [the budget proposal] is far more important than a political tug of war. But I do not know whether or not they are getting the message," he said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
RSS