The embattled National Women’s League yesterday said it would file a lawsuit against the government next week over a decision to freeze the league’s assets and impose other penalties due to its affiliation with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
League chairwoman Joanna Lei (雷倩) said her job now is to safeguard the legal rights of league members, who are to be under investigation soon, and make sure that the league continues to operate normally, despite having its assets frozen.
The Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee on Thursday determined that the league was an affiliated organization of the KMT, which is under investigation over its ill-gotten assets.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The committee froze all of the league’s assets, including NT$38.5 billion (US$1.32 billion) in cash, after the league reneged on a memorandum of understanding with the government to donate 90 percent of its assets to the state coffers and submit to public oversight.
The terms of the agreement, which Lei signed in December last year with the Ministry of the Interior and the settlement committee, were on Wednesday overturned by the league’s members representatives in a 31-28 vote.
The league on Thursday said it would go to court to challenge the government’s efforts to seize its assets, and Lei yesterday confirmed that the league is to next week file a lawsuit against the committee.
Lei said most of the league’s NT$30.2 billion in assets are being held at Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) as the league has since August last year been moving its money into a single account, because it was considering signing the agreement with the government and donating its money.
However, the government has since then been keeping close tabs on the league’s account at Land Bank and has been asking the league for the reason behind every withdrawal and deposit, she said.
The league is also preparing to elect a new standing committee.
The election is to take place after the Lantern Festival, which is to be observed on March 2, said Lei, who does not plan to run for a seat on the committee.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS