The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday vowed to take a hard-line approach against political or media commentators whose words or actions were deemed harmful to the party's reputation.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義) made the remarks yesterday in response to media reports on a legal case involving the party's controversial sales of its three media assets in 2005.
The KMT on Dec. 24, 2005 sold China Television Co (CTV, 中視), the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) and the Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC, 中影) to the China Times Group -- one day before the deadline set by the government for political and military groups to divest their media holdings.
Chang Che-chen (
Adding this amount in, the China Times Group paid a total of NT$9.3 billion to the KMT for the companies, he said.
However, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun filed a lawsuit last November accusing the KMT of breach of trust and misappropriation for selling the three companies -- with an estimated worth of NT$15.2 billion (US$456 million) -- to Jung-li under the China Times Group for just NT$4 billion.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said on Wednesday that it was looking into the case and would be calling witnesses to testify on the case soon.
Wu rebutted the accusations yesterday.
"Sure, the three companies had a total value of $15.2 billion; however, they also had a total debt of NT$11.2 billion," Wu said.
"When you deduct the debts from the total value, you get NT$4 billion." he said.
Wu added that the boards of directors of the companies decided on the sales independently.
"The KMT was a stockholder; however, the boards of directors of the companies decided on the sales themselves ... neither the party, nor former [KMT] chairman Ma Ying-jeou were involved," he said.
Wu also vowed to take legal actions against individuals whose statements might harm the party' s reputation.
"Media or political commentators should make statements based on facts ... otherwise, they have to bear legal responsibility [for their actions]," Wu warned.
Wu added that the KMT had already filed lawsuits against Yu and DPP legislators Yu Jan-daw (余政道) and Kao Chien-chih (高建智), charging them with slander.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS