The Legislative Yuan should consider abolishing the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法) to clarify the Taiwan Red Cross’ relationship with the government, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.
The establishment law of the organization — which said it uses “Taiwan Red Cross” for international purposes, although “Red Cross Society of the Republic of China” is its official name — was passed in 1954. It forbids any other organization from using the international Red Cross symbol, and decrees that the heads of several executive agencies are automatically appointed to its governing and supervisory boards.
“I think now is a great opportunity to abolish the Red Cross Society Act to normalize the organization,” Hsu said, adding that the organization takes responsibility for many government-like functions, while remaining largely unregulated within its “kingdom” of special privileges.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“While I am sure that they do good work, would that somehow stop if the law is abolished? The [Buddhist Compassion Relief] Tzu Chi Foundation also does a lot, but they do not have special laws,” he said, referring to one of the nation’s largest charitable organizations.
The Taiwan Red Cross in recent years has been mired in a series of controversies, including criticism that it overpays executives and was too slow in sending donated funds to Japan following the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Taiwan Red Cross president Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) published a half-page front-page advertisement in the Chinese-language United Daily Evening News at her own expense last week to defend the preservation of the organization’s law.
Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), a lawyer, said the law unfairly grants the Taiwan Red Cross special status relative to other organizations, citing special commemorative stamps which the organization was previously allowed to sell in schools.
Special privileges also include exemptions from most government regulations, including requirements that government ministries approve calls for donations and the organization’s yearly spending plans, Huang said.
“As the nation has a special law and the government backs the organization, making it easier for [the Red Cross] to solicit donations, in theory, it should be subject to more rigorous supervision than ordinary organizations, but in practice, the opposite is true,” he said.
Taiwan Red Cross spokeswoman Lisa Hsu (徐孝慈) said the organization’s establishment law should not be abolished, because it highlights the organization’s claim to international recognition.
While the Taiwan Red Cross is not an official member of the International Federation of the Red Cross, official member organizations in many nations have establishment laws or executive decrees, she said.
“Under current law, our only special privilege is the right to call for emergency donations,” she said, adding that the organization last year had sought the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s approval prior to calling for donations to help Syrian refugees. However, the ministry refused to process their application on grounds that the Red Cross is not required to apply for government approval before issuing donation requests, Lisa Hsu said.
The Red Cross Society Act states the organization can issue calls for donations after gaining approval from its board of directors and supervisors.
The Taiwan Red Cross agrees that its establishment law should be revised, but there is no internal consensus on what should be changed, including whether it should retain its privilege to call for emergency donations without government approval, Lisa Hsu said.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
RSS