A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) faction yesterday attacked Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials for counting the years they worked for the KMT before entering public office to help qualify for generous retirement benefits.
"Why do they deserve to get that?" asked DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (
"The KMT is clearly mixing its party coffers with those of the state and it is a venomous legacy of the authoritarian era," he said.
Citing the example of KMT Vice Chairman Kuan Chong (關中), Gao said 10 years of Kuan's "civil service" was in fact spent working for the KMT.
While the KMT should have been paying retirement contributions for the time he worked there, taxpayers are instead bearing the burden, Gao said.
Gao also singled out former Presidential Office secretary general Ding Mao-shih (丁懋時), former Judicial Yuan president Shih Chi-yang (施啟揚), former minister of transportation and communications Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正), former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-jung (王作榮) and Loh I-cheng (陸以正), a former ambassador to South Africa, as have taken advantage of the tactic.
DPP caucus whip Jao Yung-ching (
While the 18 percent preferential interest rate given to civil servants "deserved immediate review," DPP Legislator Chen Tsiao-long (陳朝龍) criticized the pan-blue alliance for twisting the DPP government's "good intentions" and creating tension between the government and civil servants.
Vice Minister of Civil Service Wu Tsung-cheng (吳聰成) said it is legitimate for retirees to count the time they worked at the KMT because a KMT government order in December 1971 legalized the practice. The decree, however, was nullified in 1987 for civil servants who were yet to retire.
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle