The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ties with China and its unwillingness to abandon its legacy pose challenges to transitional justice, Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
Speaking in Taipei at an event on transitional justice, Koo said the KMT is much stronger than East Germany’s ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), to which it is often compared in reference to transitional justice.
Saying that the essence of transitional justice is seeking historical facts, reconciliation and justice, Koo expressed dismay at what he called resistance to such efforts in Taiwan, adding that the pursuits are often misinterpreted as political conflict.
Photo: CNA
Justice must be pursued in a timely fashion to prevent the efforts from losing steam, Koo said.
Comparing the KMT with the SED, Koo said both parties have reacted similarly to investigations into their assets by filing lawsuits at every step, adding that Germany’s party assets investigation committee tirelessly persisted in the face of these obstructions.
“However, Taiwan and Germany have three major differences: Records were dug up immediately following the collapse of East Germany ... but here the records were lost. [In Taiwan] assets were concentrated in the hands of a few following democratization ... [and] the KMT is much more powerful than the SED was,” Koo said.
Koo said the KMT differs from the SED in that it has its own media outlets that voice its position on the issue of unification with China.
Transitional justice measures in post-unification Germany differed greatly in that they did not face the same issues when dealing with the legacy of an authoritarian party, Koo said.
Even after Taiwan transitioned from a nation where protests were violently suppressed, the KMT continued to hold executive, legislative and judicial power, Koo said, adding that obstructions to transitional justice are the natural outcome of that situation.
In that situation “there will never be a judge who says: ‘I completely understand transitional justice,’” Koo said.
He said that the KMT once “sat atop a pedestal,” adding that it can only understand the will of the public when it is on the same level as other parties.
Koo cited the KMT’s previous annual personnel expenses, which were as high as NT$3.2 billion (US$104.4 million), adding that the party’s current staff of 300 is more reasonable for a political party.
Aside from the investigation into its assets, the KMT must face up to its past, Koo said, adding that even the removal of a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) in Tainan was marred with protests.
“However, I believe everything should be fine; we just need to take it one step at a time,” Koo said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and