Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"From the KMT's perspective, the case is over," Lien said, noting that the judicial investigation into the case had been concluded and that the KMT had decided to drop all of its allegations against Soong.
Lien made the remarks at a press conference at CKS International Airport upon his return from a trip to Europe and the US yesterday morning.
PHOTO: TONY YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Soong was at the press conference, as were KMT vice chairmen Wang Jin-pyng (
The Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal began in December 1999 when then KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (
During the 2000 presidential election campaign the KMT used the case to attack and discredit Soong, who was running as an independent against Lien and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian (
This February, the KMT drop-ped all embezzlement allegations against Soong, saying that the allegations had "all been a result of misunderstanding."
At the time, political observers said the KMT was trying to clear Soong's name as a peace offering to the PFP leader to get him to agree to run as vice president on a joint ticket with Lien next year.
"I hope the whole fuss will just come to a halt given that the case no longer exists," Lien said at yesterday's press conference.
The scandal returned to the headlines last week, however, when former president Lee Teng-hui (
Soong said last Friday that he was willing to confront Lee over his accusations that Soong had embezzled KMT funds.
"The case had now become a political case," Soong said, accusing the DPP of reopening the case to attack him ahead of next year's election.
Lien also told the press conference that the "one China" policy he advocates refers to the Republic of China.
"Based on the principle that the `one China' is the Republic of China, it is the fundamental strategic weapon for cross-strait peace," he said.
He did not elaborate further, but he did accuse Chen of not respecting the Constitution.
Commenting on the demonstration staged last Saturday by the DPP to back calls for a referendum law and for the drafting of a new constitution, Lien, said the KMT had never been against the holding of referendums.
However, he said a referendum "ought to be designed so it could only be initiated by the people and not by the government."
"If the government can at any time initiate the holding of a referendum on any issues, then what's the point of a government," he said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS