Infighting within the National Women’s League surfaced yesterday as members of the league’s so-called “hawkish” faction urged league members to vote against signing an administrative contract with the government, which would see the organization’s dissolution, at a members’ meeting today.
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, league Standing Committee member Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) drew a parallel between the online movement against sexual harassment MeToo and a joint investigation by the Ministry of the Interior and the Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee over the league’s alleged link to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
“At a time when the world is paying attention women’s rights issues, it is heart-wrenching to see a government led by a female president persecute the nation’s first women’s political group,” said Pan, a former KMT lawmaker.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The league was neither a KMT affiliate, nor was it funded by illegitimately obtained party assets, Pan said, urging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to refrain from labeling the league as such simply because it was established in 1950 by former president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡), who led the league for decades.
According to the contract, the league is required to apply for its dissolution within four months and donate 90 percent of its total assets, or about NT$34.3 billion (US$1.17 billion), to the state coffers, Pan said.
“Would inking the unclear, unfair and unjust contract really protect the league from further persecution?” Pan asked, adding that the league should defend its rights in court rather than giving them up without a fight.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed by the league’s new chairwoman Joanna Lei (雷倩), the ministry and the assets committee on Dec. 29 last year, the league has until today to sign the contract.
Failure to do so would result in a renewed government probe into the league’s alleged links with the KMT and its use of the Military Benefit Tax — a tariff levied on the US dollar value of all imported goods from 1955 to 1989 — that provided most of the funding for the league’s charity work.
The contract has divided league members into a “hawkish” faction, allegedly led by former league chairwoman Cecilia Koo (辜嚴倬雲), and a “pacifist” faction headed by Lei, who succeeded Koo last month after the latter was removed by the ministry for refusing to sign the contract and failing to provide detailed information regarding the league’s use of the tax.
Lei on Monday called for unity and expressed pessimism over the league’s future amid allegations that the hawkish faction plans today to smother the contract by asking as many league members as possible to sign a power of attorney to obtain their voting rights.
Koo’s attorney, Chi Pei-ching (稽珮晶), yesterday said Koo has maintained her opposition to signing the make-or-break contract, as doing so would not answer questions of whether the league was affiliated with the KMT or if it was funded by ill-gotten party assets.
“It would only damage the league’s legacy,” Chi said.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS