The government could take over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) if Central Investment Co (中央投資) — a KMT-funded holding company that owns the building — is found to be an illegally obtained asset, Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
Koo said the committee is to hold an extraordinary meeting today to determine the status of Central Investment and its spinoff, Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台).
If the two companies are recognized as ill-gotten party assets, properties registered under the two companies — including the KMT headquarters — will be transferred to the government, Koo said during a radio interview on Wednesday.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
If Central Investment is ordered to return the property to the state, the building could be used for public purposes, such as a library, after a lease between the KMT and Central Investment expires, Koo said.
There are 18 firms registered under Central Investment, including the Chinese-language China Daily News, a construction company, a hotel in Palau and a British Virgin Island-registered company, and they will have to be returned to the state if their parent company is deemed to be ill-gotten assets, he added.
KMT officials condemned what they said were illegal and unconstitutional acts by the committee, adding that the party would take legal action if Central Investment was declared an ill-gotten asset.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The KMT provided the committee with a number of documents, which it said showed that the founding capital of Central Investment was obtained from legitimate sources, such as party membership fees and political donations, as well as profits generated by a KMT-owned company, KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) said.
“The KMT has provided proof of the legitimacy of that income, but the committee has not taken this evidence into consideration and [plans to] recognize that income as having been obtained illegally,” Chiu said.
“History will remember if the committee decides to act regardless of the facts and do whatever it wants,” Chiu said.
According to 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), the KMT should be given one year to declare its assets before the committee determines the status of these assets, he said.
While the committee already recognized Central Investment as a KMT-affiliated organization, it apparently plans to rule on the company’s assets before the KMT has submitted an asset declaration, a move that runs counter to the act, Chiu said.
Central Investment chairman Gordon Chen (陳樹) echoed Chiu’s sentiment, saying the company should be given one year to identify its sources of capital, which he said was collected from at least 16 companies in addition to the KMT.
Prior to that, the committee cannot not make a determination on the company’s assets, Chen said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique