Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesperson Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) yesterday said that he was denied a Hong Kong visa because he has been appointed a member of the Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement.
He had applied for a visa to attend a forum, one to which that several Taiwanese politicians from across party lines had been invited.
“I just received a notice from the forum organizers saying that Beijing abruptly decided to deny me a visa to Hong Kong because I was appointed as a committee member to investigate the KMT,” Yang wrote on Facebook. “What happened to Hong Kong’s self-rule and a high degree of autonomy?”
He had been scheduled to give a speech today at the forum, and he had bought his plane tickets.
“The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] stands firmly with the KMT on the party assets issue,” he said during a radio interview.
The issue of KMT assets is not something Beijing should interfere with, and the Chinese government’s move only strengthens the impression that the KMT and the CCP are partners, he said.
The CCP’s actions have been more of a hindrance than a help to the KMT, he said, citing the forced apology of singer Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) and a Chinese film dropping Taiwanese actor Leon Dai (戴立忍) because of their supposed political stances.
The KMT in June expelled Yang for vilifying the party and he was strongly criticized by KMT members last week for accepting the nomination to join the committee.
The KMT is in a difficult position after New York State’s Department of Financial Services fined Mega International Commercial Bank for contravening regulations against money laundering, including assets belonging to Central Investment Co, which is indebted to the bank.
The KMT did not try hard enough to reform the party even though many members, including himself, had called for the disposal of controversial party assets, Yang said, adding that the party’s current decline and criticism aimed at it would help the party restructure and come back.
“It would be to the KMT’s benefit if it is relieved of the assets controversy as soon as possible. Does the KMT want the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] to raise the assets issue again in the 2018 and 2020 elections,” he said.
The KMT should have helped facilitate transitional justice, and he, as a former KMT official, is responsible for carrying out such work, Yang said.
He said he did not resent the KMT for expelling him, but the party does not have a healthy communication environment.
Mainland Affairs Council advisory committee member Fan Shih-ping (范世平) and former DPP lawmaker Julian Kuo (郭正亮) — who is expected to return to the Legislative Yuan next month as a DPP at-large lawmaker — were notified yesterday that their Hong Kong visas had been canceled.
Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強), a senior advisor at the Institute for National Policy Research, is the only Taiwanese invited to speak at the forum who was allowed to enter the territory.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS