The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman yesterday expressed "strong discontent" with the government's interference in the party's asset sales, and dismissed its criticism of the KMT's sale of three media outlets as another unfounded charge trumped up by the government.
"No foreign capital from Hong Kong or elsewhere has been involved in the sale of the three media outlets, according to the buyer ... The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government can always trump up charges if it wants to condemn us," KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday during the party's Central Standing Committee meeting.
The KMT's sale of its three media outlets to the China Times Group on Monday generated criticism from the pan-green camp that the assets were under-priced and that a Hong Kong group headed by the tycoon Li Ka-shing (
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
While KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-chen (
"The DPP has demonized the KMT's party-asset sales. We should explain the legitimacy of the dealmaking process, and prevent the sales from becoming a new burden and the target of the DPP's attacks," KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (
Chang said the party had been cautious about foreign capital and had made sure that no investors from China or Hong Kong were involved.
"We have confirmed with the buyer that absolutely no capital from China or Hong Kong is involved. The reason other investors declined to be identified is because they are afraid of pressure from the government," he said.
Ma accused the government of holding back his party's reform efforts.
"It's almost impossible to imagine how much pressure and interference the KMT and potential buyers of our assets are faced with," he said.
The DPP legislative caucus yesterday called on the KMT to donate all the proceeds from the sale of its media outlets to charity groups, instead of using the money for its own gain.
Meanwhile, KMT Spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) responded to criticism of her job as hostess of a radio show.
Government Information Office Minister Pasuya Yao (
Cheng said that the accusation was an attempt to draw attention away from other problems, and added that she had no plan to quit the show.
Ma declined to comment on the matter, saying simply that he will "look into the issue."
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
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