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Second round of stolen-asset talks end in stalemate

The second scheduled talk between the Ministry of Finance and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the party's disputed assets ended without any results yesterday, as both parties called into question one another's sincerity in tackling the issue.

The first talk took place on Jan. 16 and never got off the ground, because both sides were locked in an argument over logistical issues surrounding the meeting.

Yesterday's negotiations lasted one-and-a-half hours, with the ministry represented by Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) while the KMT was represented by a team of lawyers headed by Y.R. Lee (李永然).

While the ministry wanted both sides to review basic principles concerning the disposition of the KMT's disputed assets, the KMT, noting that the government chose to tackle the issue now and not during the past three years, questioned the ministry's actions, saying they were motivated by the approaching presidential election.

At a press conference held yesterday afternoon following the meeting with the KMT, Lin denied there was any electoral considerations about the ministry's stance in tackling the issue.

Lin said that it wasn't that the government did not try to tackle the issue during the past three years, but mainly that the process was hampered by the lack of laws governing a political party's assets.

Bills governing disposition of assets improperly obtained by political parties (政黨不當取得財產處理條例) are still being reviewed at the Legislative Yuan.

Lin said that "the KMT is not sincere in wanting to return its assets because it wants to return only a part and not the entirety of its [disputed] assets."

The KMT also accused the Ministry of the Finance (MOF) of lacking sincerity in tackling the issue.

"After the two talks we've had with the MOF, we are filled with doubts as to whether the ministry is indeed sincere in tackling the party assets issue concerning the KMT," said Lin Yung-jui (林永瑞), deputy directory of the party's Administration and Management Committee, at a press conference held at the KMT's headquarters in Taipei.

Lin Yung-jui alleged that the MOF was dragging out the issue to turn it into a propaganda tool in the run-up to the presidential election.

Lin Yung-jui also expressed dissatisfaction that Lin Chuan presumed that the party's assets were acquired illegally.

Although no consensus was reached during yesterday's discussion, Lin Chuan expressed the ministry's willingness to meet again while the KMT stressed that yesterday's fruitless negotiation would not alter the KMT's attitude toward the disposition of its properties.

According to Lin Yung-jui, the party had, since last September, relinquished 80 percent of the party's 165 properties to their owners.

Lin Yung-jui added that the party is also now handing over its seven movie theaters, the Shih Chien building (實踐大樓) and the Shih Chien Hall (實踐堂) which the party had announced in December that it would relinquish to the original owners.
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