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) has taken effect and ended the unfair political competition that has worked in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) favor thanks to its enormous assets. This is an important step toward the normalization of party politics in Taiwan.
The KMT might feel that it has lost its place now that it has lost its grip on power, but it will not sit idly and wait for its execution. As the party does all in its power to resist this fate, the nation is witnessing the beginning of another long period of savage struggle between the ruling and opposition parties.
There are several approaches that the KMT could use to protect its assets. It could liquidate all of its remaining assets and divide them among its staff, thus frustrating the government’s attempts at recovery. It could take its case to the courts or the Council of Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation. Even if it failed to prevent the government from pursuing its goal, it would at least be able to slow down the process, which could leave room to turn things around as the political climate changes.
Another approach would be to resort to political warfare. Although the party’s legislators are in the minority and have had too many failures, they could adopt all-out, ruthless tactics in the legislature and try hard to bring down the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s policies in an attempt to stage a comeback.
Finally, the party might launch a battle for public sympathy by representing the government’s pursuit of the recovery of its assets as a political witch hunt.
Of course, the government fully understands the KMT’s options. Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has explicitly warned the KMT that it would not get away with using ill-gotten party assets to pay its workers’ salaries.
DPP Legislator Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who is slated to head the Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement, has said that the assets issue will be handled before the end of the year. KMT legislators have responded by saying that if he moves too fast, he might crash.
After winning the legislative battle on the recovery of ill-gotten party assets, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration will try to settle the issue as soon as possible, as she must also deal with a five-day workweek and the issue of one “fixed” and one “floating” day off per week; the nomination of the president and vice president of the Control Yuan; and controversy over a national conference on judicial reform.
None of these issues are easily resolved and they will result in turmoil. If the assets issue drags on for an extended period, the situation will become even more complicated.
The KMT is trying to slow things down and lump all of these controversial issues together to increase its bargaining power and cause the government to get bogged down by the assets issue in the same way that the Taipei City Government has become bogged down by the Taipei Dome case: Although it is clear that the issue involves many illegal aspects, there is no way to cut the Gordian Knot in one fell swoop. As the case drags on, the public will begin to lose patience. The government might have the upper hand, but the outcome remains uncertain.
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