Less than four months after the 228 Incident, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) obtained its first group of 85 properties “transferred and appropriated” from the Japanese, the Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said on Sunday.
Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945. The KMT government took over Taiwan after Japan lost World War II.
An investigation by the committee showed that in late April 1947, the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office, at the urging of the KMT’s central committee, sent the Executive Yuan in Nanjing and KMT director-general Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) a list of estimated prices at which the Executive Committee of the KMT Taiwan Province Chapter might obtain property held by the Japanese.
In June 1947, the Executive Yuan approved the request by the KMT Taiwan Province Chapter and instructed the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office to approve the chapter’s appropriation of 85 Japanese-owned buildings, the investigation showed.
One of the first 85 properties “transferred and appropriated” to the KMT, the Police Guest House (警察會館) — a Japanese colonial-era, three-story building in Taipei’s Akashicho — should have become a state asset after World War II, but it was taken over by the KMT’s Taiwan provincial chapter and turned into a party asset, an anonymous committee member said.
After the Taiwan provincial chapter moved to Taichung in 1957 and took the Taichung Public Hall (台中公會堂) as its office, the Police Guest House on Taipei’s Nanyang Street (南陽街) was transferred to the KMT’s Taipei chapter, the investigation showed.
The building was later sold by the KMT, turning a state property valued at NT$60 million (US$1.91 million at the current exchange rate) into private property, the committee member said.
The Japanese colonial-era Yorozuya Roykan (萬屋旅館) in Taipei’s Omotecho also became a KMT asset after World War II, the committee member said.
Also one of the first Japanese properties to be appropriated, the building was used to house KMT staff by the Taiwan provincial chapter, as well as for the Taiwan Daily (台灣日報), the committee member said, adding that the property had an estimated value of NT$8 million in the 1950s.
In Taipei’s Kyomachi, a Western-style building was used by the KMT as a “culture service club,” and in Taipei’s Hokumoncho, the Umeyashiki (梅屋敷) Japanese hotel and restaurant was used by the KMT for decades as the Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial House (國父史蹟紀念館) before being sold to the Taipei City Government for NT$600 million, the committee member said.
The first list of properties “transferred and appropriated” by the KMT also includes prime real estate in Taipei owned by Japanese, the committee member said.
“Without spending a penny, the KMT turned state property into party property,” the committee member said, adding that the KMT still refuses to pay the NT$850 million sought by the committee.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS