The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said that allegations of land speculation by DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators over the past few days were abhorrent election smear tactics, calling on KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) to live up to his promise of a clean campaign.
DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) yesterday said at a news conference that the information provided by the KMT on the size, price, buyer and which plot of land was sold were all erroneous, demonstrating that all allegations are false.
“It is clear the KMT is fabricating information like charlatans,” Wang said, calling on Chu to keep his campaign staff in line and to cease a smear campaign comprised of baseless accusations.
“Chairperson Tsai’s only role in the purchase of the land in question is quite clear — an equal partner in a joint venture involving six people,” Wang said, adding that Tsai’s participation in the deal was in full compliance with a 1985 Taipei City Government announcement regarding the rezoning of plots in the area.
There was no insider trading, land speculation or profiteering, he added.
Wang was responding to allegations by KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and former legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), which were made after the DPP questioned KMT vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang’s (王如玄) real-estate investments involving military housing units.
The two said that the same standards should also apply to Tsai Ing-wen, questioning her “precise timing” in the 1988 purchase of 15 plots of land in Neihu, months before Taipei imposed a ban on the purchase, transfer or sale of any property in parts of the rezoned area, and calling for a closer inspection of the matter.
Tsai Ing-wen and a group of five other individuals purchased a plot of land at No. 380, Plot 4 in the Xihu area (西湖) of Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), which had a registered area of 170 ping (562m2) after it was rezoned, Wang Min-sheng said, adding that the KMT’s claims increased that figure by 100 ping.
The land was sold on June 6, 1997. In July 1996, market prices were NT$60,000 per square meter, or about NT$198,000 per ping, attorney Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said, adding that the KMT’s NT$264,000 per ping estimate was based on July 1997 real-estate prices, about NT$79,308 per square meter.
“It is clear that the KMT is using erroneous numbers for its smear campaign,” Wang Min-sheng said.
Wang Min-sheng also presented the land registration papers for the plot, which indicated that Tsai Ing-wen had sold the property to an individual surnamed Tai (戴), who later sold it to Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) of Farglory Land Development (遠雄建設). The KMT lawmakers alleged that Tsai Ing-wen had sold the property to Chao directly.
The KMT’s accusations are fabrications based on hearsay and distorted truths consciously being used to try to lower the standards of Taiwanese elections, harming Taiwan’s democracy, Wang Min-sheng said, calling on Chu to apologize to the public over the incident.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods