The KMT secretly donated US$1 million to deposed Philippine president Joseph Estrada in a bid to persuade Manila to allow Taiwan's military pilots to train in Philippine air space, it was reported yesterday.
Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英), the one-time chief economic advisor to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), confirmed the clandestine donation to Estrada's re-election campaign fund in an interview with a Chinese-language paper.
"I did this at his [Lee's] order," Liu was quoted as saying.
Liu said the money came from a slush fund containing millions of US dollars in which "I indeed played a key role."
"We felt we must take the initiative" as Taiwan and the Philippines do not have diplomatic relations, Lui said.
"The prime purpose was to get Philippine permission to allow Taiwan's military pilots to fly over its air space in routine training," he said.
The donation was channeled through the Manila account of Eric Lin (
Liu claimed the funds were "contributions" to the KMT from Taiwan Pineapple and Top Construction in appreciation for financial help it received from the KMT's Business Management Committee, the paper said.
Liu is chairman of China Development Financial Holding Corp. He formerly controlled the KMT's huge business empire. He is being investigated for forgery and breach of trust charges for allegedly taking kickbacks from four companies between 1996 and 1998. He has denied pocketing any money.
Estrada was deposed in a coup in January last year and is awaiting trial for plundering a personal fortune of about US$80 million during his 30 months in power. He denies the charges.
Despite the alleged donation to Estrada, air force pilots still do not have permission to train in Philippine air space.
The Liberty Times reported in September that the Philippines' Chief of Staff General Benjamin Defensor secretly visited Taipei last year for talks on the procurement of Taiwan's 24 surplus F-5E fighters.
The report said that in return for the fighters, Taiwan demanded that Manila allow its jets to land in the former US air base at Clark, north of Manila. It said Taipei hoped for an agreement to allow its fighters to seek shelter in the Philippines should war break out with China.
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