Irked by the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) dillydallying in returning its stolen assets, the Cabinet yesterday called on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to use his political stature to pressure KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).
"While we're calling on Lien to face the problem fair and square, we also hope Mayor Ma, who has expressed concern over the issue, will persuade Lien to demonstrate some courage and sincerity to return 479 pieces of property improperly acquired by the party and currently under the investigation of the Control Yuan," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
Lin called on the KMT to furnish related documents to shed light on the thorny issue instead of asking the government to do so.
"It's absolutely preposterous to ask us to produce such documents," he said.
Lin made the remarks yesterday afternoon after the KMT postponed the meeting with officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet's five-person task force set up to tackle the issue of assets stolen by the KMT.
Claiming yesterday's meeting was "inconvenient," the KMT told Cabinet officials to come back on Friday to discuss the matter with the party's lawyers.
According to Lin, the KMT has canceled similar meetings three times since last month when the Cabinet set up the task force.
"We're disappointed with the KMT's shunning the problem and its violent way of handling the matter," Lin said. "I'm afraid it will be rather hard to reclaim the state assets filched by the KMT if the situation doesn't improve."
To date, not a single piece of property inappropriately acquired by the KMT and pledged to be returned to the state has been returned, Lin said.
The KMT has promised to hand over seven cinemas and two buildings owned by the party. The two buildings are the Shih Chien Building and Shih Chien Hall on Chunghua Road, Taipei. The theaters are located across the country.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun had hoped to see the cinemas and two buildings returned to the state before the Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 22 this year.
Lin also called on Lien to stop lying and deceiving the government and public, as he tenaciously holds on to his dubious family wealth.
In related news, the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan (
The alliance also plans to mobilize 10,000 people to besiege the headquarters after the Lunar New Year to ask the party to return the assets. The group will also call on the KMT to rename its headquarters the "colonial history museum of Taiwan."
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