Don't worry about assets, Lee says

Speaking in his capacity as KMT chairman, President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday that the party would not be actually giving up its assets when it puts them into trust, so party workers and employees of party-run businesses should not worry about their futures.

Speaking at the KMT's central standing committee meeting, Lee said the reason for the plan to entrust the assets is to avoid directly managing party-run commercial businesses. The goal is to prevent possible conflict of interest when the KMT is running the government and implementing economic and financial policies at the same time.

"But by putting the assets into trust, the party is not giving them up. There is nothing wrong with party assets," Lee said. "Our intention is to use our assets in a reasonable way, so that the public won't question us."

"Therefore, our assets will be there to offer [job and retirement] security to employees of both the party and party-run businesses," Lee said. "They don't have to worry."

Lee appeared to be trying to calm party employees who reportedly began worrying about their jobs and pensions after the KMT's presidential candidate, Vice President Lien Chan, said that the party would put its business empire in trust if he was elected.

Lien made the pledge Jan. 2 when he opened his national campaign headquarters -- and, as it turned out, launched a fierce debate over the assets both within and outside the party.

"Political parties must end their businesses and the KMT will take the initiative by having its property entrusted [to professional managers]," Lien said. "In this way a fairer field for competition among political parties will be created."

Lee's comments yesterday came after the standing committee approved a report from a task force studying how to go about putting the assets into a trust.

"This is a forward-looking policy, which was already discussed -- with a consensus reached -- at the National Development Conference," Lee said. "It is a good idea, but back then the timing was not yet right."

Lee was referring to a cross-party meeting he called in December 1996 to search for a consensus on constitutional reform and other major political reforms. A consensus was indeed reached that political parties should not run commercial businesses, but the idea was never implemented by the KMT, the only party to have a profit-oriented business empire.

Lee's promise to take care of party employees with party assets may help ease their worries, but keeping the assets (estimated at around NT$200 billion) also means that Lien's goal of leveling the playing field for political parties will not be attained, an analyst said.

"Even after entrusting its assets, the KMT still owns the money," said Yang Tai-shuenn (楊泰順), a political analyst at the Chinese Culture University.

"As long as the KMT keeps the money, how can other parties compete with it on fair terms?"

"Judging from opinion polls, Lien has not been able to improve his image or to garner more support following his proposal to entrust party assets," Yang said.

"If he wants to effectively pitch himself as a reformer, he has to do something more drastic. Donating the party-run Broadcasting Corporation of China to the government, for example, if not giving up all its assets."