Who would have known that "Reimbursement-gate" would have such legs?
What began as just another serving in a daily diet of dubious charges from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and top-heavy muckabout Chiu Yi (邱毅) has ballooned into a legal case that threatens the presidentissimo himself.
But last week, the KMT had a stone hurled right through its glass house. Prosecutors, perhaps in need of work for bored junior staff members, questioned Taiwan's No. 1 hair gel consumer and the Great Blue Hope himself -- KMT Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Pan-green legislators have for months whined that Ma improperly spent public mayoral funds on his dog, Ma Hsiao-jeou (
Then (say it ain't so, Mr Mayor) one of his staffers admitted to submitting unrelated receipts instead of the real ones, just to make the accounting easier.
And there are even reports that funds may have been spent -- presumably by his mayorship's family members -- on "feminine hygiene products." Can one say "Padgate"?
Well, well, well. Turns out quite a few of the nation's politicians have a big ol' pile of dodgy receipts stashed away in their closets.
But don't think we here at Newswatch are rubbing our hands together gleefully, happy to see the pan-blue camp get its comeuppance.
No, there are far higher stakes at play here.
As it turns out, Chen and Ma's slush fund shenanigans are only the tip of the iceberg. A probe by Newswatch hangers-on has uncovered even more shocking abuses of special funds.
You'd better be sitting down.
* Honorary KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Okay, so technically Lien has been dipping into the KMT's dwindling war chest, not public funds. But given the party's time-honored tradition of looting state coffers, what's the difference? Last year alone, Newswatch has discovered, Lien spent his "special fund" from the KMT on the following:
1) NT$340 on the classic work The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Traitors, purchased at Eslite on April 25, before the chairman's first China tour;
2) NT$280 on Ding Gua Gua fried chicken for his son, Lien Sheng-wen (
3) NT$95.3 million to complete construction, which began in March 2004, of a mock-up "Presidential Office," complete with fawning staff and high-tech situation room, deep within the bowels of the KMT's old Renai Road headquarters.
* Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
Oh, Jimmy boy, what a disappointment. All the spending from his special fund was for legitimate diplomatic purposes -- Huang's pretty boring. But it reflects judgment on the part of the nation's top diplomat that's spotty, at best:
1) NT$600 on 15 tubes of Heiren ("black person") toothpaste, to be presented as gifts to a delegation from Swaziland as a sign of Taiwan's appreciation of the contributions of diverse ethnic groups;
2) NT$120 on a pirated copy of The Da Vinci Code in a last-minute effort to understand the Catholic faith ahead of a meeting later that day with the Holy See's Taiwan envoy, Ambrose Madtha;
3) NT$300 million on small arms and bullets for delivery to a Middle Eastern contact codenamed Luowang of Arabia in September last year -- in exchange for a 30-minute visit and photo op for the president in a Middle Eastern country that cannot be named for reasons of national security (okay, okay, it was the United Arab Emirates).
* Ma Hsiao-jeou
Everyone's pointing the finger at the owner -- but what about the dog? Newswatch followed the money, and uncovered a damning portrait of a conniving canine bent on personal gain on the taxpayer's dime.
1) NT$1,000 for a Burberry dog jacket to lift Ma Hsiao-jeou's fashion profile during his outings about town;
2) NT$73,000 for dog cologne, accessories and high-end treats from the Paw-risian bistro's Web site;
3) NT$313,412 in false receipts that had nothing to do with the mayor or his dog's expenses. Newswatch has learned that the reimbursed funds actually paid for repeated trips over a six-month period last year by Ma Hsiao-jeou to a hush-hush la gou dian (
* Dr Johnny Neihu IV
Finally, in the interests of full disclosure and after consultation with my Cayman Islands-based legal staff, the following is my personal confession of possible misuse of my own special Taipei Times slush fund. Half of the fund is, by law, secret, and its specific use on sensitive journalistic matters is known only to me and three professionals in the Linsen N Road area, who shall from hereon be called Xiao H, Xiao I and Xiao J (also referred to affectionately as "Jujulicious").
But, I admit, the other half is a confusing tangle of bogus, often crumpled-beyond-recognition receipts, technically legal but morally questionable expenses, and outright pilfering from this good newspaper's funds for private gain. Unfortunately, the secret half of my budget was not sufficient to cover some emergency expenses related to "situations" that arose in the course of my research. Those expenses included:
1) NT$83,416 on Godiva chocolates for my gal and love of my life Cathy Pacific, after her discovery of a text message from Xiao J on my cellphone (consulted on the sly while I was playing mahjong in the next room) containing certain anatomical suggestions.
2) NT$65,000 on a Louis Vuitton bag for Xiao H after I mistakenly addressed her by Xiao J's name during a sensitive moment in our professional collaboration.
3) NT$704,600 reimbursed with a receipt for Cathy's annual membership fee at a Beitou (
With this accounting I put myself in the capable hands of the nation's judiciary, and throw myself upon my readers' mercy.
Heard or read something particularly objectionable about Taiwan? Johnny wants to know: dearjohnny@taipeitimes.com is the place to reach me, with "Dear Johnny" in the subject line.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017