The Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (ROC) yesterday came under heavy criticism for the manner in which it has handled disaster relief funds raised for earthquake victims in Japan.
The semi-governmental organization has raised more than half of the NT$1.8 billion (US$62 million) pledged by Taiwanese for Japan after a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
However, figures from the organization show that only US$15 million has been transferred to the Japanese Red Cross Society, the bulk of which was only wired yesterday after an internal decision on March 31.
The rest of the money is sitting in a bank account as the agency awaits further information from the Japanese Red Cross Society.
The delay has caused anger among some Internet users, with many launching an online petition calling on the Red Cross Society of the ROC to immediately transfer the full amount to its Japanese counterpart, while others have called for a boycott of the organization.
Amid the Web onslaught, the Red Cross Society of the ROC also came under fire at the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
“The Red Cross Society claims it awaits further information from the Japanese Red Cross Society. What if the Japanese Red Cross never provides a list of the things it needs? Do we just keep the money in Taiwan?” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) asked.
DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said since the Red Cross Society of the ROC does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例) and instead is subject to the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法) — which does not stipulate any penalties for violations — the group was for all intents and purposes in a position to do what other organizations cannot do.
“[The Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China] is an emperor’s law,” Huang said, calling for revisions and adding that it would be best if the Red Cross Society of the ROC could be brought under the jurisdiction of the Charity Donations Act.
Huang also voiced concerns about a rumor that the Red Cross was taking 15 percent of the total donations to cover administrative expenses.
In response, Red Cross Society of the ROC deputy secretary-general Robert Hsieh (謝昭隆) said: “We only wired about US$15 million of the money to the Japanese Red Cross Society because they told us they needed a total of US$30 million for the initial emergency response operations and that the American Red Cross had already given it US$15 million.”
The Japanese Red Cross Society would call a meeting of all Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations worldwide to give a presentation on how they could be assisted, he said.
“We will attend the meeting and then we’ll see how we can help and will probably transfer the rest of the money to them,” he said.
Hsieh said his organization did not deduct 15 percent from the donations for administrative expenses.
“We use some of the money for expenses that occur during the execution [of the fundraising project], such as meals for volunteers,” Hsieh said. “However, it’s no more than 1 percent of the total raised.”
If a donor designates his or her donations for a specific use, the group would not use even a cent of the donation elsewhere, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, including Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Chen Chieh (陳杰), also questioned the Red Cross Society of the ROC’s handling of the donations.
“I don’t think you should use any of the money elsewhere, even if it’s less than 1 percent,” Chen said. “Board members should help to cover those miscellaneous expenses. That’s what I do when I serve on the board of several different organizations.”
Lai said the public expected their money to reach the disaster areas as soon as possible.
Although most lawmakers criticized the Red Cross Society of the ROC, KMT Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) defended it by -saying that netizens were politically motivated.
“This is an ugly, politically motivated move [launched by Internet users],” Cheng said. “An organization that is trusted by the public and has never had any scandal has been sacrificed for political conflict.”
The Red Cross Society of the ROC is under attack because the organization’s president has close ties to the KMT and is a personal friend of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), she said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying