Officials from the Tuntex Corporation (
In a statement released yesterday, Tuntex said due to its long-term business relationship with the KMT, the company had been willing to contribute money to the party.
The company then went on to appeal to all presidential candidates to tell the truth and return quickly to a campaign based on policy debate.
The statement follows claims made two days ago by a high-ranking government official that a business tycoon -- who he identified as being surnamed Chen -- had given a NT$100 million check to the KMT on June 10, 1991 to fund campaigning.
At that time, Soong served as the KMT's secretary-general. However, Chen refused to say whether he had given the money to Soong directly.
But the official, who was closely involved with the KMT's internal affairs, said the money had not been deposited in the KMT's public accounts, but instead was stashed in the account of Soong Chen-yuan at the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp (
When the first allegations in the mushrooming scandal were made public by KMT legislator at-large Yang Chi-hsiung (
Once the financial dealings were made public, members of Soong's campaign reportedly made private visits to Chen to ask him to be the "elder" that Soong had mentioned. But, the official said, when Chen realized that the donation had been transferred to Soong's son's account, the Tuntex president was too angry to play the role.
In addition to Chen, the official said, Soong also called on the son-in-law of the Shin Kong Corporation's (新光集團) Kuo Jui-sung (郭瑞嵩) -- who now serves as professor at Soochow University -- to ask for help, but that bid also failed.
Soong and Kuo had once been classmates, according to media reports.
Chief secretary to President Lee Teng-hui (
"Soong's secretary Yang Yun-tai (
Standing firm on his position, Su yesterday held a news conference urging Soong to apologize to both President Lee and the Taiwanese people.
Su said the media had exposed the fact that Chen might be the "elder" that Soong was looking for. This was proof Soong had concocted the entire story in a bid to cover his tracks, Su said.
"Having watched the development of events and heard Soong's statements regarding Chung Hsing Bills Finance, it proves that in order to get away from the money scandal, Soong cooked up the story by saying he acted under Lee's direction,'' Su said.
Soong, meanwhile, refused further comments yesterday. However, he has asked former National Chungshing University president Huang Tong-shong (
Huang said that if the KMT still refuses to accept the money, Soong would probably hand the money over to the courts instead. According to current regulations, Huang said, the money would automatically be delivered to the national treasury within 10 years.
KMT officials dismissed Soong's gesture yesterday as a mere "political show.''
"The action [referring to Soong's move to end the trust deal with the KMT] is meaningless. Since Lee never demanded Soong conduct any private work, there is need to end such an appointment,'' said KMT spokesman Huang Huei-chen (
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS