Former minister of transportation and communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時), who served as an adviser to Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) presidential campaign team, yesterday said allegations that he was involved in a quid pro quo exchange between the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters and Hung was “stupid.”
Yeh on Thursday said that KMT headquarters offered to give Hung NT$30 million (US$922,708) for her campaign on Oct. 5, a disclosure that led Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) to accuse Yeh and the KMT of agreeing to a quid pro quo arrangement for Hung to step down as the party’s presidential candidate.
All previous KMT presidential candidates received their funding from party headquarters, “so there should be no problem at all for the party to fund [its candidates],” Yeh said in rejection of the accusation.
“Hung had said [at the beginning of her campaign] that she would not need the party’s money, so [when the campaign found itself running short of funds] we said we would ‘borrow’ and then pay back the funds with public subsidies for candidates after the election,” Yeh added.
Yeh said that Chen’s accusation was a “stupid comment.”
“Had it been a quid pro quo arrangement, it would have taken place differently,” he added.
When asked whether Hung knew about him asking KMT headquarters for funds, Yeh said: “Yes, I think she knew.”
The former minister said that the decision was reached through discussion and coordination among Hung, KMT Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) and himself.
However, the Chinese-language Apple Daily cited “a friend of Hung” as saying that Hung never asked Yeh to borrow money from the party.
“According to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), a subsidy for a candidate is to be received by the party that nominated the candidate. One of Hung’s aides had asked [after Hung said she would not use the KMT’s funds] whether the party would help cover her campaign expenses, as the KMT would receive millions from the subsidy after the elections, but the party did not respond positively to the proposal, even after Hung was nominated on July 19 by the party congress,” the friend was quoted as saying.
“It is strange that Yeh would ask Lee for NT$30 million on Oct. 5, since party headquarters had always been reluctant to provide funding, and on Oct. 3 Chu tried to talk Hung out of her run, followed by the KMT Central Standing Committee proposing an extempore party congress on Oct. 4,” the report quoted the friend as saying.
According to the report, the friend said that Hung was unaware of Yeh’s actions, and later demanded that Yeh return the check after she was offered the funds.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS