The People First Party (PFP) caucus yesterday threw its support behind a draft bill aimed at dealing with ill-gotten party assets, urging the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to truthfully face its mistakes and allow justice for the people.
The PFP made the remarks in a press release issued after lawmakers voted 71-26 in favor of putting the legislation at the top of the agenda of an extra legislative session, which began yesterday and is set to run through July 29.
“The PFP supports the legislature’s attitude in dealing with the KMT’s ill-gotten assets. [The KMT] should face its mistakes and give Taiwanese due justice,” the PFP said.
However, the PFP urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to bear in mind the creation of a more benign political environment when dealing with political parties’ ill-gotten assets, rather than being motivated by vengeance.
Describing the KMT’s ill-gotten assets as a “posthumous child of past mistakes,” the PFP said that the properties the KMT received or improperly occupied after the Japanese colonial period ended should be returned to the people.
“Over the past few years, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has repeatedly reiterated his stance that [the KMT’s] ill-gotten assets should be dealt with and given back to the people,” the PFP said.
“However, not only did the KMT’s leadership miss the best time to handle the issue, they also arbitrarily allowed the assets to create unfair political competition,” it added.
Handling the KMT’s assets now is merely an attempt to “repeat a failed course” and finish the KMT’s “long overdue homework,” the PFP said, urging lawmakers to pass the draft bill as soon as possible.
The PFP also called for wisdom, prudence and transparency in dealing with the KMT’s assets, as not all of them originated with the Japanese government, as some came from investments, and many bona fide third parties were involved in the party’s sales of properties in the past.
“If the DPP lets vindictiveness go to its head or handles the issue in a manner similar to plundering, it will only create more impropriety and another wave of social instability,” the PFP said.
The PFP added that both the DPP and KMT should face the past truthfully, work toward the future with good, will and rise above their personal interests and political calculations.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS