The China Youth Corps (救國團) was led by premiers and education ministers from 1970 to 1989, a recently completed Ministry of the Interior (MOI) investigation showed. One Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker said the corps leadership was a typical way that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) funneled state money into a party-affiliated organization.
Ordered by the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee on Dec. 11 last year to investigate the corps’ organizational structure and operations, the ministry’s report said the corps was first placed under the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and then under the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Education (MOE) from 1970 to 1989.
Education ministers used to double as the corps’ conveners and presided over its youth workshop meetings, the investigative report said.
The corps was established in 1952 as the China Youth Anti-Communist Nation Salvation Corps (中國青年反共救國團). It organized training for students and young adults, and was in charge of military training at high schools and universities.
Placed under the MOE in 1970, the corps registered with the MOI as a “social movement organization” and, in August 1989, as a “social organization.” From 1970 to 1989, former premiers Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Lee Huan (李煥) were corps directors, while the education ministers of that period chaired youth workshop meetings and established corps chapters in cities and counties.
Chiang in August 1974 set out a set of corps tasks and duties in which it was to conduct projects to assimilate the youth. By 1989, the corps had completed the construction of 13 youth activity centers and an office building in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山), which served as its headquarters. It also established Youth Cultural Co (幼獅文化) and the China Youth Service Association (中華青年服務協會).
“It is the best piece of evidence of the party’s control of the state,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said.
The MOE provided NT$380 million (US$12.93 million at the current exchange rate) to the corps from 1950 to 2003 to fund its activities, and an additional NT$458 million to build its activity centers, Lai said.
It was a typical act of channeling state money to an organization founded by the KMT,” Lai said.
During the authoritarian era, the presidents were KMT chairmen, the premiers doubled as corps directors and the education ministers were corps conveners — they abused government resources to develop KMT-affiliated organizations, Lai said, adding that the situation persists even today, as a retired MOE official is now corps director.
Meanwhile, an investigation of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee showed that former minister of education Mao Kao-wen (毛高文) was a member of the corps before becoming minister in 1988, when he also served as director of the KMT’s “Young Intellectuals” branch.
During a New Year’s Eve celebration at Taipei First Girls’ High School in 1988, Mao asked more than 1,000 students to join the KMT, the report said.
In related news, a meeting of the corps’ board on Saturday last week addressed the “overly powerful” authority of the corps director, which led to a contravention of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), by revising its charter to reduce the director’s power, making the position just “the corps’ representative to the public.”
The corps also abolished a membership rule requiring prospective members to be recommended by a corps member to secure membership.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it