Vice President and KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan's (
At the launch of a new book titled Liquidating the KMT, the book's editors described the KMT's business empire as "the cancer on Taiwan's democratic development."
"Despite the KMT's move to place its assets in trust, the measure will merely prevent the cancer cells from spreading rather than wipe out the deadly disease," said Andy Liang (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"By means of an authoritarian regime, the KMT has developed its business empire from US$0.8 million dollars to US$10 billion in the past 50 years," Liang said.
Such mushrooming wealth, Liang said, makes the KMT "the richest political party in the world."
According to the book, the KMT's wealth mainly has come from the "shuffling of government assets into the party treasury" through five means.
These include the KMT's take-over of state-owned land from the Japanese occupation period, using the state budget to subsidize party-owned business, giving pubic procurement or contracting out infrastructure projects to party enterprises, using subsidiaries formed by KMT businesses to escape legislative scrutiny and the setting up of joint ventures between state- and KMT-owned companies.
The book estimated that there are approximately 43 firms in the KMT's business portfolio.
Critics and opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, claimed that these privileges have turned party-run businesses into a breeding ground of money politics.
"The KMT has abused its monopolization of policy making power to enrich itself," said New Party legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆).
"They have, in one hand, decision making power and on the other hand they have business interests. This is a direct conflict of interests," he said.
Chen Shih-meng (
"One is justice. The KMT has to be accountable for the source of its revenues. The other is fairness. The party should return illegal revenues to the public," Chen said.
With the presidential election less than two months away and Lien trailing in most of the polls, Huang Huan-hsiung (
"The momentum generated from the presidential race is the best chance to force the KMT to unload its assets,'' Huang said.
Lai further proposed that a cross-party alliance be set up to monitor and evaluate the process.
Huang seconded this idea, saying that "the most important task now is to find the source of the KMT's assets."
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist