The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese-language United Daily News on Monday denied allegations that the newspaper was founded with KMT gold.
The denial came after former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) earlier that day called on the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to investigate the paper as a KMT affiliate.
United Daily News Group founder Wang Tih-wu (王惕吾), also a former KMT Central Standing Committee member, had received 100kg of gold from then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to establish the newspaper, Chen said.
Chen on Monday underwent inquiries as a Control Yuan member nominee along with Yang Fang-yuan (楊芳婉), Chao Yung-ching (趙永清), Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義) and Yang Fang-ling (楊芳玲) at an interim meeting at the legislature in Taipei.
New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) asked the nominees if they were committed to investigating not only the KMT, but also people who benefited from the chaos in the post-World War II period to procure national assets for themselves.
Yang Fang-ling said that while people could be investigated by the Control Yuan, the time for administering justice for asset-related violations during the period has long expired.
Yang Fang-yuan disagreed, saying that national assets that fell into private hands should be investigated because they belong to the nation, adding that the Control Yuan should seek corrective actions from the government bodies that failed to pursue the assets.
It might be difficult to pursue KMT members who have registered national assets in their own names if the party itself does not pursue the matter, Chen said, adding that the government must still investigate them.
Chen cited a passage in the book The Past Happenings of Gold (黃金往事), which said that Chiang was given 4,500kg of gold from the state treasury when he stepped down from office, then gave 100kg of the gold and some foreign currency to Wang to establish the United Daily Group, he said.
The KMT called the allegations “reckless accusations,” while the United Daily News said the claims were “baseless.”
“Chen is relying on speculation written in a book; he has no concrete evidence of anything. This paper is deeply regretful over [these assertions],” the paper said.
Wang combined the Popular Daily, the National and the Economic Times, three contemporary Chinese-language daily newspapers, to form the United Daily Group, the paper said, adding that it went through hard times at the beginning when Wang had ask different creditors to borrow money for workers’ salaries.
“Chen’s assertion that the paper’s funding came from the KMT is entirely baseless,” it added.
The Taipei High Administrative Court has already questioned the constitutionality of the committee’s operations, KMT spokeswoman Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) said.
“That Chen can read a book and use it as the basis for his accusations raises concerns about the future of the Control Yuan,” she said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS