New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday urged the Control Yuan to investigate Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) father-in-law, Lee Jih-kuei (李日貴), accusing him of illegally occupying more than 1 hectare of public land in Yunlin County with Han’s help.
“I hope the Control Yuan can answer questions that the National Property Administration could not, including why the family was allowed to illegally occupy public land, run a gravel business there and have taxpayers cover the cost of building an embankment,” Huang told reporters outside the Control Yuan in Taipei.
“Did the government and the business conspire to break the law and abuse their power? How much of that is tolerated?” he asked.
Photo: CNA
Huang on Friday last week said that Datong Gravel Co (大通砂石行), owned by Lee, a former Yunlin County councilor, allegedly obtained control of an area near the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪) in 2000 after Han, then a legislator, lobbied for NT$6.8 million (US$222,900 at the current exchange rate) to build the embankment.
The Lee family had been excavating gravel from the area since 1995 and, as soon as it was registered as public land in 2000, they applied to have it rezoned from agricultural to mining land to benefit the gravel business, Huang said yesterday.
The Yunlin County Government approved the application in just one day, even though the land use change contravened the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法), he said.
The county only fined the company NT$60,000 for illegal use of land and damage to the ecosystem, he said.
Ye Yuan-zhi (葉元之), who is spokesman for Han’s campaign as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, said that Huang has no evidence of wrongdoing by Han.
The only so-called evidence of Han improperly using his influence is records from meetings on the embankment project, Ye said.
“We will not play along, because we know that Huang is doing this to get attention and to promote the NPP,” he said.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS