Evergreen chairman Chang Jung-fa (
Evergreen Group is one of the nation's biggest shipping companies. It owns EVA Airways Corp and Evergreen Marine Corp.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chuen-po (詹春柏) was unwilling to confirm the identity of the buyer yesterday when talking to reporters at the party headquarters.
"The headquarters were sold to a prominent local enterprise and will be used for cultural and educational purposes," he said.
Chan was happy to answer other questions, however.
When asked about the buyer's political affiliation, Chan said that the KMT was concerned only with the buyer's reputation, the sale price and the use to which the building would be put.
"Evergreen means `green,' which is a color you can see everywhere ... The chairman of the Evergreen Group is a successful entrepreneur. We don't pay attention to his political affiliation," Chan said.
Chang is known to be a supporter of the pan-green camp.
On whether the building would be painted green after the Evergreen Group takes over, Chan said: "The buyer has its preference. It's their choice."
Once the deal is finalized, the KMT is expected to move its headquarters to a smaller building on Bade Road.
The 12-story building was built in 1995 and boasts an exhibition room on the first floor, offices on the second through 10th floors, the chairman and vice chairmen's offices on the 11th floor and meeting and banquet rooms on the 12th floor.
The building's NT$40 million annual maintenance fee has, however, become a heavy burden for the cash-strapped KMT.
The luxurious building is also not consistent with the clean, modest image that KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Given these financial and symbolic concerns, the KMT decided to sell the building and move to a new location.
The decision was made despite opposition from many older party officials who argued that the party should not sell its "spiritual fort."
The remaining details of the deal will be resolved once Ma returns from the US at the end of the month.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai urged the buyer to think twice before signing the contract.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS