A law to put government-supported non-profit organizations under stringent supervision and prevent them from privatizing national assets is being drafted, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
The Ministry of Justice is to put forward a draft law because some organizations have been privatized and operate outside government control, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said yesterday.
The law would regulate foundations such as the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, which was established with government funding, but the government has no control over it, Hsu said.
The CTCI Foundation, a technical consulting organization established with 100 percent government funding, has been transferred into private hands, with state funding diluted to 40 percent, Hsu said.
“The private sector holds more seats on the board of directors [of the CTCI Foundation] than the government, allowing the foundation to shed government control, so the government is unable to determine if the foundation has fulfilled its founding purpose,” Hsu said.
Non-profit organizations are regulated by the Civil Code and the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), which stipulates only a low-level of government supervision.
“A new law is necessary because the Civil Code and the Civil Associations Act are not sufficient to regulate how foundations manage government funding,” Hsu said.
There are more than 150 foundations that have received more than NT$200 billion (US$6.61 billion at the current exchange rate) in government funding.
Some foundations were established with properties transferred from the Japanese colonial government, including the Taiwan Telecommunication Industry Development Association, the Postal Association and Taiwan Sugar Corp, but the diminished role of the government in those foundations has caused concerns that public properties might be privatized and misappropriated.
The draft act would allow the government to restore public-turned-private foundations to their public nature and eliminate sinecure positions.
High-level foundation positions are often given to retired government officials, allowing them to receive minister-level salaries.
The draft act would transfer government-appointed positions into non-paid positions, Hsu said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary