The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said details of alleged illegal party assets that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) promised to release are only the “tip of the iceberg,” accusing the KMT of insincerity over its holdings.
KMT spokesperson Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said on Tuesday that the party would finish detailing its party assets by the end of the month.
However, DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said the KMT is trying to deceive the public.
“According to an Executive Yuan report, the KMT’s party assets include 834 plots worth more than NT$31.1 billion [US$992 million] according to land evaluations made in 2006,” Huang said. “In addition, it also possesses more than 152 buildings across the country.”
“The KMT is only willing to take care of 229 properties, which is less than a quarter of what it has,” Huang said. “If this is not an insincere move, what is?”
Huang said the KMT also earns income from the rent or sale of properties.
“What [KMT Chairman] Eric Chu (朱立倫) plans to take care of is only the tip of the iceberg of the KMT’s party assets,” Huang said.
Huang also accused Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) of breaking a promise made in March to publicize a list of the KMT’s assets.
Huang urged the government and the KMT to stop dodging the assets issue.
“I’m sure that people would look forward to electing a legislature with candidates from the progressive camp, so that legislation on illegal party assets could be adopted and the assets could be returned to the people,” Huang said.
The issue involves mostly properties belonging to the former Japanese colonial government in Taiwan, which were supposed to be taken over by the Republic of China government. However, many of the properties fell into KMT hands instead.
In other news, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to focus more on what he is doing now after the president said during a meeting with former US vice president Dan Quayle on Tuesday that the development of cross-strait relations would become unpredictable if the next government does not continue with established policies.
“I have stated my cross-strait policies clearly: While keeping Taiwan democratic and free, and keeping its constitutional order, we would strive to maintain stable and peaceful relations across the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai said. “I’ve said this several times already and it is supported by most Taiwanese.”
“I would urge the president to focus on running the government, especially since he is yet to fulfill his political promises,” Tsai said. “He should work hard instead of making comments on a government that is yet to be elected.”
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS