The National Women’s League would be allowed to donate NT$16 billion (US$522 million) of its assets to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to go toward long-term healthcare if the group is found to be affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and have funding from ill-gotten assets, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.
The committee has decided that such a donation could be seen as a legal means of returning ill-gotten party assets to the state and facilitating a fair competitive environment for political parties, which is in line with the spirit of the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said.
The league last month notified the ministry that it wanted to donate money to fund the national long-term care system, but the ministry was concerned with the legality of the move because the money might be recognized as ill-gotten KMT assets.
“Although the committee has not yet determined that the league is an [KMT] affiliated organization, it unanimously agreed that the donation would be legal if the league was recognized as such,” Shih said, adding that the ministry could accept the donation without legal worries.
Asked if the committee was overstepping its authority by reviewing the legality of a proposed donation before the league’s status has been determined, Shih said the committee does not have the right to approve or disapprove the donation now, but it would approve the donation if the league was ruled to be a KMT affiliate.
The league on Feb. 17 said that it had NT$38.1 billion in assets and it would donate NT$16 billion to government agencies to be used for long-term healthcare, NT$6 billion to social welfare organizations and NT$6 billion to Cheng Hsin General Hospital to build a long-term care center.
The proposed donation to the hospital has been widely criticized because the league’s executive secretary, Cecilia Koo Yen (辜嚴倬雲), is president of the hospital.
For organizations whose properties are recognized as ill-gotten party assets, making donations to government agencies and legally required payments, such as salaries and taxes, are the only two spending activities allowed under the act, Shih said.
“Donations made to non-governmental organizations are not allowed by the act, and organizations have to understand that there are legal consequences to accepting such donations,” she said.
The committee has scheduled a hearing on April 27 to review the league’s status.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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
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