The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is entitled to file a request to gain access to its assets that were frozen on the presumption they are ill-gotten, should its legally obtained funds and properties prove insufficient to cover personnel expenses, the Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.
“If the KMT wants to access its frozen bank account, it should file an application in accordance with the committee’s regulations,” committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) told reporters in Taipei. “However, before filing such a request, the KMT should prepare a comprehensive overview of its funds and determine which parts are legally obtained and can therefore be mobilized.”
Should the KMT file a request, the committee would assess its reasonability and the need to protect KMT workers’ rights.
“Nevertheless, it is the KMT’s responsibility to address the problem of not being able to pay its employees,” Shih said.
Shih’s remarks followed the committee’s passage on Tuesday of a revision to the enforcement rules for Section 1, Article 9 of the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), which permits the use of assets presumed to be illicit to fulfill statutory obligations or when just cause is provided.
The change came amid KMT accusations that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is carrying out a political vendetta against it, following the committee’s freezing of a KMT bank account late last month over the issuance of 10 checks worth a collective NT$520 million (US$16.5 million at the current exchange rate).
Under the revised rules, political parties and their affiliated organizations should only use party fees, political donations, campaign contributions and campaign subsidies to pay for their employees’ salaries, severance pay or pensions.
“However, after taking into consideration certain individual cases, the committee’s permission can be obtained should there be a reasonable need to tap into presumed ill-gotten assets to pay for such expenses,” the revision read.
Rejecting speculation that the revision would allow the unfreezing of the KMT’s ill-gotten assets, Shih said the committee was only laying down clear regulations to prompt the KMT to face its paycheck conundrum.
The issue has only been the subject of a war of words because the KMT has deemed payment of salaries a statutory obligation, rather than a contractual one, which is contrary to the committee’s definition, Shih said.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) told a morning news conference in Taipei that the party has yet to decide on filing an application.
However, hours later the KMT issued a statement criticizing the committee, calling it “an emperor governing political parties.”
“As the committee has flatly rejected the payment of salaries as being a statutory obligation, the KMT has filed an administrative lawsuit,” it said. “KMT Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) is to negotiate with the committee in the hopes of resolving the matter in a fair, legal and reasonable manner.”
In related news, KMT Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday wrote an open letter to the KMT workers’ union urging its president, Liu Hui-lin (劉慧琳), to “point the gun outside the party instead of inside.”
“If the DPP was under attack by the KMT, DPP staffers would definitely surround the KMT rather than [President and DPP Chairperson] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). However, Liu apparently thinks differently, because the target of her protests has been the KMT’s headquarters, and she has not dared to say anything critical of the DPP,” Alex Tsai said.
Liu recently threatened to take action should the KMT fail to pay the wages due at the end of this month.
RESTRAINTS: Should China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, China would be excluded from major financial institutions, the bill says The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which states that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude Beijing from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China must be prepared
PEACE AT LAST? UN experts had warned of threats and attacks ahead of the voting, but after a turbulent period, Bangladesh has seemingly reacted to the result with calm The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday celebrated a landslide victory in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with party leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister. Bangladesh Election Commission figures showed that the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a “historic victory,” while India praised Rahman’s “decisive win” in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh. China and Pakistan, which grew closer to Bangladesh since the uprising and the souring of ties with India, where ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina
FAST-TRACK: The deal is to be sent to the legislature, but time is of the essence, as Trump had raised tariffs on Seoul when it failed to quickly ratify a similar pact Taiwan and the US on Thursday signed a trade agreement that caps US tariffs on Taiwanese goods at 15 percent and provides preferential market access for US industrial and agricultural exports, including cars, and beef and pork products. The Taiwan-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade confirms a 15 percent US tariff for Taiwanese goods, and grants Taiwanese semiconductors and related products the most-favorable-treatment under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the Executive Yuan said. In addition, 2,072 items — representing nearly 20 percent of Taiwan’s total exports to the US — would be exempt from additional tariffs and be subject only to
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday released the first images from its Formosat-8A satellite, featuring high-resolution views of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Tainan’s Anping District (安平), Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor (興達港), Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo and Barcelona airport. Formosat-8A, named the “Chi Po-lin Satellite” after the late Taiwanese documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), was launched on Nov. 29 last year. It is designed to capture images at a 1m resolution, which can be sharpened to 0.7m after processing, surpassing the capabilities of its predecessor, Formosat-5, the agency said. It is the first of TASA’s eight-satellite Formosat-8 constellation to be sent into orbit and
RSS