Taiwan Blood Services Foundation chairman Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) yesterday tendered his resignation after a local magazine accused the foundation of being a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) asset, saying that he was ordered by the Executive Yuan to step down, while Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said Yeh was being “paranoid” and denied that the Cabinet had forced him to resign.
Yeh said at a news conference that the foundation’s blood stockpiles had dramatically declined due to the unfounded rumor.
Yeh said that as the report could destroy the foundation, which has operated for 43 years, he contacted the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Wednesday night and asked the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to quickly investigate the foundation if it has any doubts regarding the organization’s legal status.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
He said that an official told him bluntly in a telephone conversation that his resignation was ordered by the Executive Yuan.
Yeh reiterated that the foundation is a private institution and does not receive any government funding.
The foundation’s board of directors will not convene until next month, Yeh said, adding that he would ask for the board’s permission for a leave of absence starting on Tuesday next week after hosting a number of events.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“My resignation is a small matter. It is worth it if people have enough blood to use,” he said, adding that his successor should be capable and just, and not affiliated with any political party.
Otherwise, the KMT would retaliate, he said.
“Blood is neither blue nor green, and has nothing to do with political parties,” Yeh said, adding that he has been in politics for more than a decade and would not burn his KMT membership card.
He said the Mirror Media report was damaging to the foundation.
Hsu said the Cabinet regrets Yeh’s “unreasonable” accusation and asked him to identify the individual who asked him to resign, if there really was such a person.
“Yeh resigned of his own free will due to his contract with the foundation. It had nothing to do with the Executive Yuan,” he added.
Mirror Media on Wednesday published a report accusing the foundation, one of the primary sources of plasma for blood transfusions in the nation, of being a KMT asset.
Investigations conducted by unspecified groups were cited by the report as saying that the foundation makes NT$3 billion (US$94.4 million) in profit each year by charging hospitals between NT$600 and NT$1,000 for every 250cc of blood processed into plasma, in addition to a number of properties with an estimated value of NT$5 billion.
The foundation said that it was a legal entity established under the Medical Care Act (醫療法), not a government agency, adding that no government funds were used in its creation.
Regarding the real estate and other assets it controls, the foundation said that it established its own offices and blood donation centers and vehicles at the suggestion of the then-Department of Health in 1992.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
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