The “C1 mark” appended to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) assets and its affiliate organizations, which President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government had removed nearly seven years ago, is likely to be reinstated after the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee on Wednesday last week passed a motion in favor of the move.
In December 2005, the Ministry of the Interior, according to an executive order of the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, instructed land administration units to append the C1 mark to all national assets registered to the KMT and its affiliate organizations.
The intent was to remind corporate owners of the risks they faced when buying allegedly illegal assets the KMT was liquidating.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
However, the C1 mark was removed after Ma was elected president in 2008; the Ma administration also closed down Web sites detailing the party’s disputed assets.
All related information was also removed from Web sites such as the National Property Administration.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said that the Ministry of the Interior was on April 3, 2009, informed by the Ministry of Finance to remove all C1 marks, and the interior ministry on April 13 that same year informed local government agencies to remove the C1 marks.
DPP legislators had since attempted to pass a motion in the legislature so that the interior ministry could reinstate the C1 mark on KMT assets, but they had been unable to do so due to the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan.
DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) on Wednesday last week made a provisional motion on the matter during a meeting of the legislative committee, which was approved by more than half of the DPP members in the committee.
Launching a general inquiry into the assets alleged to have been illegally seized by the KMT and its affiliate organizations saw popular support, Chao said, adding that the C1 mark must be reinstated to prevent innocent people from buying such property.
“This would prevent further complications between the law and the issue of the party assets,” Chao said.
Chao said that the KMT’s allegedly illegal assets appropriated from national property had been liquidated from NT$6.6 billion (US$202.95 million) to NT$1 billion since the Ma administration’s removal of the C1 mark.
“The C1 mark must be urgently reapplied to all assets that are under the KMT’s name,” Chao said.
The committee had originally asked the interior ministry to reapply the mark immediately, but the ministry said it did not possess files on party assets, Chao said, adding that the committee had instead asked the Ministry of Finance to make known details of the KMT’s assets.
‘UNACCEPTABLE’: The foreign ministry said that China’s behavior broke international law, while Johnny Chiang was worried such balloons could be used against Taiwan A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the US was yesterday condemned by officials in Taipei and sparked calls for the government to plan countermeasures. The Pentagon on Thursday said it had detected a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the country. Beijing has said the balloon is a civilian meteorological device that drifted into US territory after being blown off course. The National Security Bureau and Ministry of National Defense should investigate whether surveillance balloons could be used against Taiwan and prepare to respond to such acts, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponement
INTELLIGENCE VALUE: While the US was working on recovering the balloon’s remains, China said that it reserved ‘the right to make ... necessary responses’ US President Joe Biden’s administration lauded the Pentagon for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, but China angrily voiced its “strong dissatisfaction” at the move, and said it might make “necessary responses.” The craft spent several days flying over North America before it was targeted off the coast of the southeastern state of South Carolina with a missile fired from an F-22 plane, Pentagon officials said. It fell into relatively shallow water just 14m deep. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a “deliberate and lawful action” that came in response to China’s
RISK FACTOR: ASEAN issued a statement saying the cross-strait situation ‘could lead to miscalculation,’ but it is willing to facilitate dialogue to ensure stability in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed a joint statement by ASEAN leaders voicing concerns that the situation across the Taiwan Strait could affect regional stability. The statement was issued after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat ended on Saturday in Jakarta. It was the first major meeting since Indonesia assumed chairmanship of ASEAN this year. Attendees of the meeting reiterated their determination to promote “sustainable peace, security, stability, and prosperity within and beyond the region,” the statement said. They expressed concerns about developments across the Taiwan Strait and their “implications on regional stability,” the statement said. The cross-strait situation “could lead to miscalculation, serious
THINK TANK VISIT: The former US Indo-Pacific official said that a capture of Taiwan’s outlying islands by China rather than a large-scale attack is a grave security concern The US and Taiwan can deepen their relations on many fronts, former head of the US Indo-Pacific Command Philip Davidson said yesterday while visiting President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office. Davidson is leading a six-member delegation from the National Bureau of Asian Research, a US-based think tank. They arrived on Monday and are scheduled to depart tomorrow. Tsai met with the delegation yesterday morning, welcoming the organization on its first visit to Taiwan since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the office said in a statement. She thanked Davidson, a retired admiral, for paying close attention to matters regarding the Taiwan