A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee branch was listed among the branches of the National Women’s League on the organization’s Web site, despite the latter claiming that it is not affiliated with the KMT.
Founded by Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡), the league’s assets have attracted scrutiny over allegations that it illegally profited from its ties to the KMT’s authoritarian regime.
Some of the league’s funding came from the Military Benefit Tax, which was levied on the US dollar value of all imported goods from 1955 to 1989.
Following two rounds of negotiations with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, the league late last month agreed to donate nearly 80 percent of its NT$38.1 billion (US$1.26 billion) worth of assets under government supervision.
It also ran an announcement in newspapers and on its Web site denying any links with the KMT, saying that none of its assets came from the party’s coffers.
“Its objective is to serve the nation and the public. It is by no means bound to the interests of a certain political party,” the notice read, referring to the league.
However, an introduction on its Web site provides conflicting information. It said the league has 25 overseas and nine domestic branches, including a KMT Central Committee branch.
Meanwhile, the asset committee’s second investigation report on the league suggested that the KMT had given the league a direct order to establish an election campaign group.
The group’s mission was to establish close contact with the KMT headquarters to help it conduct election campaigns, the report said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-jung (賴瑞隆) yesterday said that the findings were “no surprise” given the group’s link with Soong, who led it for decades.
“It has repeatedly claimed that it is not affiliated with the KMT, but how could the league have possibly levied the monetary bonuses [the public] paid to soldiers during the authoritarian era had it not been for the KMT’s party-state rule?” Lai said.
The committee should continue its investigation to ascertain whether the league has other illegal assets, he said.
The committee should press the league to donate all of its assets, rather than 80 percent, he added.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said the KMT and the league “have been two separate entities all along.”
Asked to comment on the KMT Central Committee branch listed on the league’s Web site and its apparent ties to the party, Hung said he could not to comment on the matter, which “dates back to a long time ago.”
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