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."
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
TALKS CONTINUE: Although an agreement has not been reached with Washington, lowering the tariff from 32 percent to 20 percent is still progress, the vice premier said Taiwan would strive for a better US tariff rate in negotiations, with the goal being not just lowering the current 20-percent tariff rate, but also securing an exemption from tariff stacking, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday. Cheng made the remarks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan explaining the new US tariffs and the government’s plans for supporting affected industries. US President Donald Trump on July 31 announced a new tariff rate of 20 percent on Taiwan’s exports to the US starting on Thursday last week, and the Office of Trade Negotiations on Friday confirmed that it
RSS