A small group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegates yesterday showed boxes of gifts they claimed to have received during the recent Central Standing Committee (CSC) election to protest the party's decision to punish only elected members in its bribery probe
The delegates from Yilan County brought the gifts, ranging from bottles of red wine to boxes of tea, orchids and soy sauce, to KMT headquarters in Taipei. They were led by the head of Jiaosi Township (礁溪), Lin Cheng-sheng (林政盛), who said each delegate received at least 50 gifts from almost every committee candidate.
“Everyone was sending gifts, but only Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) from Yilan was punished for bribery. We have come here today to protest the KMT's poor handling of the investigation,” Lin said in front of KMT headquarters.
The KMT's Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee on Tuesday revoked the elected status of Yang and Chiang Da-lung (江達隆) for bribing party delegates.
Yang was found to have sent fish worth NT$120 via a home delivery service, while Chiang sent red wine to delegates.
Both Yang and Chiang denied bribing delegates, but neither showed up at party headquarters yesterday. The protesters also declined to reveal the names of other CSC members who gave gifts, and took the gifts with them when they left.
Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛), director of the party's disciplinary committee, questioned the intention of the protesters for refusing to leave the gifts as evidence.
“We don't know whether those gifts were sent by CSC members, or whether those protesters were delegates. We are skeptical of the intention of those behind this show,” he said.
Juan said the disciplinary committee would continue to probe bribery allegations and accept reports from KMT members. Disciplinary action will be taken against those found to have bribed delegates, he said.
CSC member Chen Ding-yun (陳釘雲) said sending gifts to delegates during a CSC election was a “historical glitch,” and said vote distribution was a worse problem during CSC elections.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as KMT chairman, yesterday praised the disciplinary committee for investigating the bribery allegations and reiterated his pledge to transform the KMT into a clean and responsible party.
“The end of the 18th national convention is the beginning of party reform ... We must let members and the society know about our determination to push for reform,” Ma said while presiding over his first CSC meeting after assuming the chairmanship.
Ma promised to seek closer cooperation between the government and the party, making the KMT a “great party” and his administration a “powerful government.”
He also pledged to turn the KMT into a party of action and asked party legislators to pass the fiscal budget for next year, as well as the budget for post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction work.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party panned the KMT for only picking on minor cases of bribery, while turning a blind eye to those who allegedly gave out more expensive gifts.
“If the KMT is willing to penalize those who handed out salted fish as a bribe, what should they do with those who gave out luggage, wine and blankets?” DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) asked.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS