The Control Yuan yesterday denied that it was investigating whether the Kaohsiung City Government had funded the city and county chiefs’ invitation of the Dalai Lama to southern Taiwan last year.
“We received a complaint [last year] asking whether local governments misused budgets earmarked for inviting foreign nationals to Taiwan,” Control Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Hai-chuan (許海泉) told reporters.
However, the Control Yuan referred the complaint to the Ministry of the Interior for an initial investigation because there was no evidence of malfeasance by government agencies or officials, Hsu said, adding that this was standard procedure at the Control Yuan when dealing with public complaints.
“The Control Yuan is not specifically probing the Dalai Lama’s visit,” he said.
ALLEGATIONS
Hsu was responding to allegations by Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), former adviser to the Kaohsiung City Government, that he made while addressing a rally in Taipei on Sunday to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.
Liang said the Control Yuan, the Investigation Bureau and the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office had initiated their own investigations into whether the city government spent public funds to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Seven Democratic Progressive Party city and county chiefs issued a joint invitation to the Dalai Lama in August asking him to visit Taiwan to hold religious services for the victims of Typhoon Morakot.
The ministry confirmed on Sept. 20 that it, as the government authority in charge of religious affairs, received a request from the Control Yuan to determine whether government funds were spent to cover the Dalai Lama’s expenses.
POLITICAL
The probe sparked criticism from the pan-green camp, alleging that the move was politically motivated.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said last year that no money from city government coffers was used to sponsor the visit.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
The Republic of China Army Command yesterday relieved Kinmen Defense Battalion commander after authorities indicted the officer on charges connected to using methamphetamine. The Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday detained Colonel He (何) after the Coast Guard linked him to drug shipments and proceeded to charge him yesterday for using and possessing crystal meth. The man was released on a NT$50,000 bail and banned from leaving Kinmen, the office said. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told a news conference yesterday that He has been removed and another officer is taking over the unit as the acting commander. The military
RSS