Two DPP lawmakers yesterday urged the government to investigate a fee arrangement for a Taipei City recreation center between the Cabinet-level Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission and the KMT- affiliated China Youth Corps (CYC).
DPP lawmakers Lee Chen-nan (
Lee said that over the years the Cabinet-level Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission has undercharged the China Youth Corps while allowing the group to use the Youth Recreation Center in Shihlin.
He accused the commission of playing a prodigal son at the expense of state coffers and prodded the government to terminate the arrangement as part of the effort to probe the legality of KMT assets.
Lee said the commission should have determined its rate by referring to the current land values and the buildings on the site as required by a 1995 land rule.
"But the commission has ignored the regulation and collected its fees based on the worth of the buildings alone," he said. "The commission should take a tougher stand on the matter now that the KMT is no longer in power."
The Cabinet approved the construction of the center in 1978 after then-commission officials complained about a lack of facilities to entertain overseas youth.
The Taipei City Government, the National Property Bureau and the railway bureau own different parts of the land, according to commission official Wang Chen-tai (
"The figure is always calculated according to a set formula," Wang said, adding that the commission owns only two-thirds of the center's new buildings.
The China Youth Corps, formerly a KMT propaganda arm, has added three new buildings to the original establishment. Currently, the youth group has to pay the commission NT$7.8 million a year, a sum CYC official Chen Kuo-yi (陳國義) said is not extraordinarily low.
In recent years, the group has become increasingly independent. Its board members have rejected candidates favored by the KMT headquarters for their leadership positions. Jeanne Tchong-koei Li (
But DPP lawmaker Tsai Chi-fang insisted that the money paid to the Cabinet commission is unduly modest, noting that its Peitou club earns the agency an annual income of NT$40 million. A 1999 pact stipulates that the sum the CYC pays the commission must not be less than N$7.7 million a year.
"I find it more advisable for the private sector to manage the youth recreation center," Tsai told reporters. "I don't see what is keeping the commission from doing that." The lawmaker called on the government to take his advice into consideration when proposing legislation.
Earlier, the Cabinet introduced two bills aimed at regulating political parties and allowing authorities to take action against properties illegally acquired by any party.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS