The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday disclosed financial data regarding the establishment of Central Investment Co (中央投資公司), saying the party used legal sources of income to raise capital to found the firm, which is suspected of being a KMT-affiliated organization.
The KMT in 1971 raised NT$200 million (US$6.32 million at current exchange rates) in founding capital using government bonds paid for by party membership fees, a special fee collected from party members and the profits of party-run organizations, KMT Administration Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) told a news conference.
The party collected NT$1.66 billion from 1945 to 1971, including NT$1.38 billion in membership fees and NT$700 million in accumulated interest from party-run organizations, which was more than sufficient to fund the establishment of Central Investment, Chiu said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The party held three special fundraising campaigns in 1946, 1948 and 1952 and collected about 19 billion old Taiwan dollars (法幣) and 128,000 in gold yuan (金圓券), as well as NT$7.1 million and a small amount of foreign currency.
A number of KMT-run organizations, including Chiloo Industries Inc (齊魯企業), moved from China to Taiwan when the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan, and they had a total value of US$777,598 in 1949, which converted into NT$885 million at the time.
“[The disclosure of the data] is an answer to doubts over how the KMT had the money to establish Central Investment in 1971, and to the claim that Chiloo came to Taiwan empty-handed and raised capital with money plundered from Taiwanese,” Chiu said, adding that the KMT-run organizations were funded by the party’s legal incomes instead of public properties.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee held a hearing on Oct. 7 about the status of Central Investment and its spinoff Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台股份有限公司), which have a combined value of NT$15.4 billion, to determine whether they are KMT-affiliated organizations.
The hearing procedure was flawed, because it was chaired by committee chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) instead of third-party experts, and Chiu’s statements on the hearing were edited out of context or falsely transcribed in the meeting’s minutes, but the committee obstructed his attempt to correct them, Chiu said.
Lawyer Chang Shao-teng (張少騰) said the committee refused the KMT’s request to summon witnesses, including former KMT officials, to provide information about the issue, which was against an appropriate hearing procedure.
Central Investment chairman Gordon Chen (陳樹) said the committee should not presume the company and its spinoff to be affiliated with the KMT without evidence.
The appropriate way to deal with ill-gotten assets is to allow the KMT to declare financial statements within a year as per 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), after which the committee can decide on the status of the two companies and take legal action, Chen said.
The KMT submitted the data to the committee on Friday last week.
Meanwhile, committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said it was commendable that the KMT voluntarily disclosed the information, but the disclosure was not made during a hearing and the data have yet to be verified.
“The KMT’s unilateral claim cannot be relied on as the only account of how Central Investment was funded and the party should reveal more evidence for public oversight,” she said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from