Independent presidential candidate James Soong (
Ma Yi-kung (
The Control Yuan is the watchdog agency charged with overseeing government officials. As former provincial governor, Soong no longer holds any official post, and it is therefore not mandatory for him to answer the summons.
"It is an opportunity for Soong to clarify his situation," Ma said. "Soong should not give up his rights."
But Soong said his sister-in-law and financial advisor Chen Pi-yun (
"I respect the Control Yuan, but Chen has already made everything clear," Soong said yesterday. "Chen will go to the Control Yuan to clarify her explanations again, if necessary," he said.
A statement released by Soong's campaign office added that the independent candidate would be willing to provide answers in written form if further explanation is still necessary.
The statement said that Soong's intention was not to evade questioning.
"The results of the official investigation must be kept secret. If Soong does go the Control Yuan, people with their own agenda will inevitably create rumors [as to his reported answers] to smear him. Then his showing up will not only result in no clarification of fact, but may actually further cloud the truth," the statement said.
Allegations of Soong's financial scandal surfaced mid-December when KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) accused Soong and his family of involvement in irregular money transactions involving sums of hundreds of million of NT dollars.
The Control Yuan later established a task force to investigate Soong over possible violation of the Election and Recall Law (
The task force was set up after the 21-member government watchdog body questioned Minister of Finance Paul Chiu (邱正雄) over the finding of an investigation by his ministry into the financial affairs of Soong and his family.
After Soong's election campaign for the now-defunct post of Taiwan Provincial Governor in 1994, he filed a declaration of election expenditure amounting to exactly the NT$104.98 million the Election and Recall Law allows.
Soong is also being investigated for violation of the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law, under which high-ranking officials and elected representatives must list their financial assets to expose possible bribe-taking.
According to documents held by the Control Yuan, Soong has declared less than NT$10 million in assets. But the Soong camp recently admitted having remitted US$1.9 million (NT$60 million) to the US as "personal travel expenses."
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS