KMT gave kickbacks to China: DPP

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of using two individuals to distribute kickbacks from a 1991 French frigate deal to Chinese officials, including former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民).

The allegations came just a week ahead of next Saturday's hotly-contested local government elections, and as government prosecutors say that with the help of evidence brought back from Switzerland earlier this month, they are close to completing a probe into the decade-old scandal. The party gave no evidence to back up its claims, but insisted it had information from reliable and knowledgeable sources outside the country.

DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that about US$366 million of a total US$486 million in commissions -- or about 18 percent of the US$2.7 billion price tag for six Lafayette-class frigates purchased from France in 1991 -- went to Chinese officials to stop them from penalizing France for making the sale.

Out of that US$366 million, Lee said that the KMT used a woman named Liu Li-li (劉莉莉) to distribute US$100 million to officials from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and People's Liberation Army, including Jiang, who then served as CCP secretary-general and chairman of the CCP's Central Military Commission.

Liu, whose father is a general, regarded former KMT premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) as her second father, Lee said. Liu's father was educated at the Whampoa Military Academy, the predecessor to the current Chinese Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County. Whampoa was originally established in 1924 in Guangdong, China by former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).

Apart from Liu, about US$70 million of the US$366 million was doled out by a man named Edmond Kwan (愛得蒙*關) to China's State Council and Foreign Ministry officials, including former foreign minister Qian Qichen (錢其琛), former premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) and former vice premier of China's State Council, Yao Yiling (姚依林).

Lee said that Kwan is Yao's nephew.

Neither Liu, who is believed to be in Shanghai, or Kwan have yet commented on the DPP's charges.

The reason the Chinese government eventually decided not to take retaliatory action against France for its sales to Taiwan, Lee said, is that Thomson-CSF (now named Thales), the French company that sold the frigates to Taiwan, agreed to provide the Chinese government with technical details about the frigates.

"We understand that Thomson wanted to make money out of the deal, but it is unethical for them to provide China with such confidential military intelligence," Lee said.

DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) alleged that Thales struck a secret deal to provide China with information about the frigates, and also agreed to sell radars and missiles to China and help Beijing in its military cooperation and technology transfer efforts.

Lai called on prosecutors to conduct an investigation into Liu, who he claimed returned to Taiwan on Sept. 8 with her US passport, possibly to "convey important messages" to those involved in the case.

With the Dec. 3 elections drawing near, Lai called on voters to take note of the KMT's controversial role in the decade-old scandal as well as the party's extensive links to China.

"It is not enough to see the KMT lose power because of their corruption. We'd like to see those responsible in the case be brought to justice," he said.