The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday expressed regret that the Council of Grand Justices turned down a request by KMT legislators for a constitutional interpretation on an act targeting the party’s controversial assets.
Last month, 35 KMT legislators requested that the council issue an interpretation on the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), which the KMT considers to be unconstitutional and unlawful.
The request was rejected on the grounds that it was not supported by enough legislators.
The law stipulates that a request for a constitutional interpretation is considered valid only if it is endorsed by one-third of legislators — which means 38 lawmakers, as the legislature has 113 seats.
KMT legislators also requested that the grand justices issue an interpretation on that requirement, but the court has not indicated whether it will accept the request.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said that the act has hampered the normal operations of political parties and affected the development of Taiwan’s constitutional democracy.
He urged the grand justices to carefully assess the request for an interpretation on the requirements regarding constitutional interpretations.
The act, which was passed in July and took effect in August, empowers a committee to investigate, retroactively confiscate and return or restore to rightful owners all assets that were improperly obtained by the KMT and affiliated organizations since Aug. 15, 1945 — when Japan officially announced its surrender to the Allies, bringing World War II to an end.
The act assumes that all the KMT’s assets — except for party membership fees, political donations, government subsidies for KMT candidates running for public office and interest generated from these funds — are “ill-gotten” and must be transferred to the state or returned to their rightful owners.
Late last month, the KMT’s main bank account was frozen at the request of the committee, forcing the party to delay paying salaries.
The KMT has criticized the action, saying the committee does not have the right to ask the bank to freeze its accounts.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS