The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday announced it would punish two Central Standing Committee members for bribery ahead of the committee election.
The party rights of Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) and Chiang Da-lung (江達隆) were suspended by the KMT Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee following an investigation and their election revoked automatically.
Their seats will be filled by Lee De-wei (李德維), a member of the KMT’s youth corps, and KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆).
The disciplinary committee gathered to discuss the bribery investigation after KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) presided over the first meeting at party headquarters since taking over the chairmanship on Saturday.
The director of the party’s Disciplinary Committee, Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛), said the investigation found solid evidence that Yang and Chiang had bribed party delegates with gifts.
“We found hard evidence in the cases of Yang and Chiang, and the disciplinary committee members agreed that the elected status of the two members should be revoked,” Juan said yesterday.
The gifts included wine, moon cakes and stationery, the investigation report said.
The KMT elected 32 committee members from 46 candidates on Oct. 11 amid accusations of bribery.
The influence of the committee, the highest decision-making body of the KMT, is expected to grow now that Ma has taken over the chairmanship.
Bribery allegations have clouded almost every Central Standing Committee election, but this is the first time the party has taken action.
The action follows Ma’s pledge to clean up the KMT and tackle election bribery at his inauguration speech.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS