The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is hosting an exhibition today and tomorrow focusing on land and buildings it says were illegally obtained by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the nation’s authoritarian era.
The exhibition, titled “Shared Economy: Ill-gotten Assets in Taiwan,” is to take place at the SPOT-Taipei Film House.
The exhibition consists of two pavilions, with one reviewing the the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例) and the work the committee has done since it was founded on Aug. 31, 2016, and the other focusing on properties illegally occupied by the KMT.
Four forums are also scheduled, with keynote speakers including Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), National Human Rights Museum director Chen Chun-hung (陳俊宏) and documentary director Chou Shih-lun (周世倫). They are to be joined by historians in discussing Poland’s and the Czech Republic’s experiences pursuing transitional justice and the domestic issue of illicit party assets.
The pavilion on illicitly acquired real estate is to focus on the 10 most notable such examples, which include the former KMT headquarters.
Now the premises of the Chang Yung-fa Foundation, the land was originally used by the Japanese Red Cross Society, a committee member said on condition of anonymity.
The KMT used the property for free for 34 years, then leased it from the National Property Administration at less than market rates, before purchasing and selling it to the foundation during then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) time as KMT chairman, the committee member said.
The plot of land on which the National Women’s League offices sit was paid for directly from the nation’s coffers, the committee member said.
While serving as defense minister, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) instructed the Ministry of National Defense to subsidize the league’s purchase of the land, which was owned by the ministry, the committee member said, adding that the league was headed by Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡).
Other properties in the exhibition include the former Umeyashiki Hotel, which the KMT acquired for free by transferring money to itself, the committee said.
The Taipei City Government later bought it back for NT$650 million (US$20.7 million at the current exchange rate) as it planned to build the Dr Sun Yat-sen Park (逸仙公園) there.
Also included are the headquarters for the KMT’s New Taipei City chapter, which was built on land expropriated by the KMT; the KMT’s Nantou chapter, which was built on land previously assigned to the China Youth Corps — a KMT affiliate; and the party’s Penghu chapter, which was built on land the KMT occupied, leased and “purchased,” the committee said.
Assets committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) welcomed members of the public to attend the exhibition to learn about the nation’s party-state era during which the nation’s coffers were managed by the KMT.
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