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Funds for US school prompt questions on MOFA's budget

The Legislative Yuan's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee yesterday completed its review of next year's budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite an uproar over subsidies to a US university.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) tried to block a proposal by nine committee members to continue a subsidy to St. John's University in New York state, but failed.

According to ministry estimates, St. Johns has received more than US$300,000 a year in subsidies from Taiwan for many years, more than any other US university.

After ministry officials raised questions about the school's academic reputation and its habit of providing the ministry with receipts for the subsidies but no details on how the money was spent, it was decided during Tien Hung-mao's (田弘茂) tenure as foreign minister that the cooperation agreement with St. Johns would be terminated when the contract expired this year.

Hsiao claimed that the school tried to bribe Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) through Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Yu-jen (高育仁) after it learned of the plan to stop the subsidies.

Kau said that Kao only delivered a letter from the school.

DPP Legislator Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) said that by law, the legislature cannot suggest the Cabinet increase a ministry budget, and since the foreign ministry had not included a St. Johns subsidy in its budget, the committee mem-bers erred in proposing the continuation of the subsidy.
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