Plans to turn the Grand Hotel in Taipei into a private corporation have nothing to do with the March 22 presidential election, Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said yesterday.
Tsai made the comments after the Chinese-language China Times yesterday reported that the Duen Mou Foundation of Taiwan is planning to invest NT$900 million (US$29.1 million) to transform the hotel into a company before the new president takes office in May, with the newly formed company to be managed by board chairman Christine Tsung (
The hotel currently falls under the supervisory authority of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, with four ministry officials serving as board members.
The Duen Mou Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1952 and now falls under the ministry's jurisdiction.
"The ministry does not have any agenda [on when it will become a company]," Tsai said yesterday.
"Having been a civil servant for 30 years, I can tell you from experience that it would be impossible for the hotel to become a company by May 20," he said.
Tsai said that, based on government regulations, all hotels should be operated as companies, and that the Grand Hotel should become a company if it is planning to diversify its operations.
To do so, however, the hotel must handle several issues, such as the interests of its employees, which could not possibly be settled in just a day or two, he said.
The Grand Hotel Taipei -- built on the orders of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and former first lady Soong Mayling (宋美齡) in the 1950s with public funds, on public land and without having to pay tax -- is a Taipei landmark and former venue for state banquets.
Describing the matter as an "issue left behind by history," Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), when approached for comment outside the legislature yesterday, said the Executive Yuan was unsure whether any change could be carried out prior to May 20.
Chang said that establishing a company to manage the Grand Hotel would help boost the hotel's development.
When asked if the government would be able to maintain control of the company, Chang said the hotel would be run by a judicial person instead of by a corporate system.
The Tourism Bureau said in a statement yesterday that the Executive Yuan had decided to turn the Grand Hotel into a company in 2006. However, preparations for the move had already started in 1999, when the late chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) presided over the hotel's operations. The hotel's ownership remained an unresolved issue after Koo passed away in Jan. 2005.
The bureau puts the net value of the Grand Hotel's assets at NT$3.37 billion.
Earlier yesterday, the KMT caucus threatened to sue government officials involved in the plan to establish the company.
KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (
"The future of the Grand Hotel cannot be determined until the ministry presents a comprehensive plan to the legislature for approval," KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said at the media conference held by Fai.
KMT legislators Hsieh Kuo-liang (
Additional reporting by Flora Wang and CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS