Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers asked Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday to return NT$6.65 million to the government, charging that Lien received the money as a result of preferential treatment.
DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (
Tuan said the money was earned on Lien's savings since he lost his job as vice president in 2000. The KMT chairman earned more than NT$220,000 each month he enjoyed the preferential rate, Tuan said.
Tuan said Lien is taking advantage of both the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) and separate rules for former government officials.
Tuan said Lien should be allowed only to take advantage of the statute provisions and not the rules for former government officials, which allow for the 18 percent rate.
"Lien should not receive the preferential interest rate for being a former vice president. We challenge Lien's greed for earning the preferential interest rate while also wanting to enjoy the same treatment as former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lee gave up the special interest rate after the statute was enacted.
The pan-blue controlled Legislative Yuan resolved to include the vice president in the preferential treatment statute on May 29, 2001, allowing Lien to enjoy perks such as the government's deployment of security guards and an official car.
But Lien did not give up the 18 percent interest rate, Tuan said.
"He instead profited at people's expense by earning NT$220,000 per month from the interest, which is equal to six-months salary for ordinary workers," Tuan said.
Meanwhile, the DPP continued to reveal details about the KMT's theft of government assets.
DPP Legislator Yu Jan-daw (
"The KMT is suspected of occupying the office building for township representatives after its official claim of having returned the building to the government," Yu said at a news conference held with Niao Song township representative Chen Ying-wu (
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS