Speculation over a financial crisis inside the Chinese Nationalist Party grew after the party told employees that this month's salaries would not be paid on time, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
A Chinese-language evening newspaper said that the KMT was seeking to raise funds from party members to see itself through a lean period.
Kao Chin-yen (
It is customary for the KMT to pay its employees on the first day of the month, but the April salary was delayed. It's the second time the KMT has delayed salaries since it lost power in 2000.
"This is because we spent a lot of money on election campaigning in March and that has affected the management of the party's funds," KMT Administration and Management Committee Director-General Chang Che-shen (
He added that the party was planning to urge its supporters to provide donations.
"On average the KMT has to pay NT$150 million to its employees a month, and if we also count in the retirement pension for the retired employees, then we need at least NT$200 million a month to straighten out everything," Chang was quoted as saying.
Chang said that KMT's main income was from its membership fee, which is NT$500 a person per year. Chang said, however, that the party never gathered the fee in full.
"Income generated from donations is not much due to the impression that the KMT is rich," Chang was quoted as saying.
KMT officials said that the employees will be paid their salary in full tomorrow.
According to the evening paper, the KMT only managed to raise between NT$300 million to NT$400 million for the presidential election, with the party covering its costs by selling shares and party assets.
The KMT is now facing huge debts in the wake of the election, the evening paper said.
"To deal with the financial crisis, we have to investigate the feasibility of layoffs again, and find new sources for income at the same time," Chang was quoted as saying.
In 2000, financial magazine Wealth Monthly estimated the KMT's assets as standing at US$17 billion.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS