Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) last night announced his decision to quit the post.
In a brief statement, he said he decided to leave the post as he has “completed the mission assigned for this phase.”
Earlier yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) dismissed a media report that Chan would quit over her disavowal of an administrative contract that he secured from Ill-gotten Party Assets Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄), which was said to be fully authorized by Hung, but which she later refused to sign.
The Chinese-language China Times published an exclusive report yesterday saying that Chan, who is in San Francisco, told its reporter that he felt “discontented and puzzled” when Hung told the media on Sunday last week that “nobody had supported the signing of an administrative contract with the committee except Chan.”
Chan told the newspaper that he was not alone in the many meetings and negotiations with Koo, as “people from Hung’s circle” were also there.
“If those around Hung had a different opinion, they should have spoken up during the negotiations, but no, they chose to say something different from what was agreed only afterward,” Chan was quoted as saying.
Chan was reportedly not pleased about Hung’s disclosure of the internal party discussion about the negotiations, saying the handling of the controversy “was extremely unwise.”
He said that he suspected someone from the party “deliberately fed the media with what was agreed during the negotiations, for a specific purpose.”
Hung’s handling of the issue was also heavily criticized by Chan.
“If the decision not to sign [the administrative contract with the committee] was right, then those who talked [Hung] out of signing it should shoulder the responsibility and consequences it might incur, rather than passing the buck to me,” he was quoted as saying.
The China Times said Chan would likely quit as the party’s vice chairman, as he said he would “do what [he] should do.”
In Taipei yesterday, Hung said Chan is “awfully important” to her and dismissed the report, asking the media not to “maliciously drive a wedge” between her and Chan.
Local media outlets first reported in the middle of last month that the committee and Chan, representing the KMT, had agreed to sign an administrative contract that would allow the handover of the party’s shares in Central Investment Co and its subsidiary Hsinyutai to the state, even though 45 percent of the shares would have to be transferred in the form of a donation.
The contract also had provisions concerning what would be done with the funds from the disposal of Central Investment Co’s assets.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of