The Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee yesterday rejected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers’ accusations that its field investigation into the party’s investment in a Palauan hotel had become a tourist trip.
At a morning news conference in Taipei yesterday, KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said that two committee employees took a four-day trip to Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — in August last year to inspect the Palasia Hotel Palau, of which the KMT-controlled Central Investment Co and its subsidiary own 80 percent.
“However, the 70-plus page trip report submitted by the committee talked about diplomacy and tourism, which are not even remotely related to its duties,” Tseng said, adding that most of the report’s content were pictures and appendixes, and that not a single word in its half-page of feedback and suggestions was about the committee’s actual work.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The report raised questions about the “credibility of the committee’s future decisions,” as it was the main document on which the committee based its rejection of the company’s request to sell the hotel, Tseng said.
He said if the committee refuses to apologize, he would confront Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at the next legislative session and ask him if he would accept such a sloppy report.
KMT Legislator Tung Hui-chen (童惠珍) said that the report served as proof that the committee was established by the Democratic Progressive Party for the mere purpose of bringing down the KMT.
Shortly after the news conference, committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) rejected the KMT lawmakers’ allegations, saying that the purpose of the trip was to inspect the KMT’s overseas assets, not sightseeing.
The committee decided to take the trip after Central Investment criticized it for rejecting the firm’s request to sell the hotel without first sending someone to inspect it, Shih said.
Committee staff made the trip along with representatives from Central Investment, Shih said, adding that they did not have any set plans for the first day, and met with Palauan Bureau of Tourism officials, tourism proprietors and representatives of the Palasia Hotel Palau on the second day.
On the third day, they met with Taiwan’s overseas government staff and agricultural enterprises, before attending a banquet in the afternoon celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Palasia Hotel Palau’s establishment to investigate the hotel’s operations, Shih said.
The portion about tourism in the committee’s report mostly concerned committee staff’s meetings with the Palauan Bureau of Tourism’s director and the Palasia Hotel Palau’s general manager, she said.
The celebratory banquet was also attended by Palauan Vice President Raynold Oilouch and Central Investment chairman Gordon Chen (陳樹), she added.
NEW AGREEMENT: Malaysia approved imports last year after nearly two years of negotiations and inspections to meet quarantine requirements, officials said Up to 3.6 tonnes of pomeloes from Taiwan cleared Malaysian customs on Friday, in the first shipment of Taiwanese pomeloes to Malaysia. Taiwan-grown pomeloes are popular in domestic and overseas markets for their tender and juicy taste, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said. The fruit is already exported to Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, it added. The agency began applying for access to the Malaysian market in 2023, compiling data on climate suitability, pests and diseases, and post-harvest handling, while also engaging in nearly two years of negotiations with Malaysian authorities and submitting supplementary
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
Tigerair Taiwan and China Airlines (CAL) today announced that several international flights were canceled or rescheduled due to Typhoon Ragasa. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) has maintained sea and land warnings for the typhoon. Its storm circle reached the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) on Taiwan's southern tip at 11am today. Tigerair Taiwan said it canceled Monday's IT551/IT552 Taoyuan-Da Nang, IT606/IT607 Taoyuan-Busan and IT602 Taoyuan-Seoul Incheon flights. Tomorrow, cancelations include IT603 Seoul Incheon-Taoyuan, as well as flights between Taoyuan and Sapporo, Osaka, Tokyo Narita, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Saga, Tokyo Haneda, Nagoya, Asahikawa and Jeju. On Wednesday, the IT321/IT322 Kaohsiung-Macau round-trip would also be canceled. CAL announced that today's
About nine Taiwanese are “disappeared,” detained, or otherwise deprived of freedom of movement in China each month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Between Jan. 1 last year and Aug. 31 this year, 188 Taiwanese travelers went missing, were detained and interrogated, or had their personal freedom restricted, with some questioned in airports or hotel lobbies, the council said. In a statement ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the council urged people visiting China for any reason to be highly vigilant and aware of the risks. Of the reported cases, 50 people were “disappeared” after entering China, 19 were detained and 119 had