Lawmakers have questioned what they said was unreasonably low rents paid by the China Youth Corps for state-owned land and youth activity centers, calling for the properties’ retrieval once their leases expire.
The corps has been renting 12 youth activity centers nationwide and the Kuan Yun Youth Hostel in Hualien from government agencies and state-run institutions, an investigation by the Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee has found.
The landlords range from the Ministry of Finance’s National Property Administration (NPA), the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency and the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau, to the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, state-run Taiwan Water Corp and National Taiwan University.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Most noteworthy is a 6,683m2 plot of land in Hualien County’s Sioulin Township (秀林) leased to the corps by the NPA for NT$163,656 (US$5,424) per year, or NT$6.7 per ping (3.3m2) per month. The land houses the Tienhsiang Youth Activity Center, which is essentially a hostel.
The NPA has also leased 120,599m2 of space at the Kenting Youth Activity Center in Pingtung County, which was built with a subsidy of more than NT$100 million from the Ministry of Education, for an annual rent of NT$6.6 million, or about NT$17.9 per ping per month, the committee has found.
Other properties include a 4,300m2 plot of land that houses the Kuan Yun Youth Hostel, which costs the corps NT$150,350 per year, or NT$6.7 per ping per month; Chiayi County’s Alishan Youth Activity Center, where the rent for a 8,163m2 space is NT$489,780 per year, or NT$16.5 per ping per month; and Nantou’s Sun Moon Lake Youth Activity Center, which sits on a 83,140m2 plot of land that costs NT$8.72 million per year, or NT$28.9 per ping per month.
The committee is trying to ascertain whether the corps, founded by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in 1952 for anti-communist purposes, should be considered a party affiliate.
“In the early days, the China Youth Corps was granted the privilege of using national resources for free under the pretext of organizing youth activities. It managed to rent state-owned land at low prices afterward, thanks to the lingering influence of the KMT from the party-state period,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said.
The rent paid by the corps for the Tienhsiang Youth Activity Center is particularly preposterous, given that it is at the Taroko National Park and charges NT$3,300 to NT$4,800 per room per night, Lai said.
“With 65 rooms in total, the corps can earn its yearly rent in one night,” Lai said.
New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said it is unthinkable that the corps can rent a place like the Sun Moon Lake Youth Activity Center for NT$28.9 per ping per month, when other properties in the area cost NT$2,000 per ping.
Hsu said the government should stop granting special favors to the corps and immediately re-evaluate its leases with the organization.
The NPA said the properties are leased according to Article 28 of the National Property Act (國有財產法) and that the annual rents were calculated by multiplying the registered land values by 0.05.
It said it has already canceled a 40 percent discount given to the corps, adding that it will consider whether to renew the leases when they expire.
Asset committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said the committee has launched a probe into properties and youth activity centers listed under the corps’ name, after a second public hearing was held late last month to determine the relationship between the corps and the KMT.
Shih said they will look into not only state-owned land rented by the corps, but also how it has managed to obtain and sell all of its properties, and look for any irregularities.
She added that a third public hearing would be held next year.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition