The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) former financial prowess stemmed from concessions that the party granted businesses it operated, as well as a “special foreign exchange” regimen that applied exclusively to KMT members during the party-state era, which was independent of the regular foreign exchange system, academics said.
Speaking at a symposium last week focusing on democracy pioneer Fu Cheng (傅正) and the KMT’s assets, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research southern branch director Jason Kao (高仁山) said that the KMT regime shortly after it arrived in Taiwan created a special foreign exchange system.
The system allowed KMT-run businesses to bypass restrictions that the party otherwise imposed on foreign currency transactions, imports and exports, which in turn helped them gain an advantage over their competitors and monopolize the market.
While the special foreign exchange system was only available to businesses run by KMT members, other businesses often resorted to bribery and undue networking to be included in the system, which led to the rise of special foreign exchange brokers, negatively affecting the economy, people’s livelihoods and the sociopolitical climate, Kao said.
The KMT meddled with monopolistic state-run enterprises, such as CPC Corp, Taiwan, Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee deputy researcher Yang Chen-yu (楊鎮宇) said, adding that CPC paid NT$1 commission for every NT$8.5 it made through the sale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas in the 1970s to KMT-operated Ruei Hua Co (瑞華公司), the KMT-appointed “official distributor” of fuels.
Ruei Hua Co was dissolved in 1978 and replaced by the now-defunct department of liquefied gas supply under the Veteran Affairs Council, which continued to levy commission for the KMT’s benefit and paid “rent” to the KMT and its Yu Tai Co (裕台公司), which owned most of the land on which gas filling plants were located, Yang said.
Even though the sale of LPG was opened to free competition in 1993, it was not until KMT-controlled Central Investment Co and Kuang Hua Co (光華公司) in 2002 disposed of shares they held in other LPG firms that the KMT officially withdrew from the business, he said.
KMT-operated businesses that profited from LPG sales since 1971 included Central Investment Co, Ruei Hua and Kuang Hua, which together founded Shin Shin Natural Gas Co (欣欣天然氣) and 11 other LPG companies, Yang added.
‘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
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
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
RSS