Ren Mei-ling (任美玲), wife of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), promised to provide subsidies to student renters in their property on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山), Hou’s campaign staff said yesterday.
Hou has been accused of exploiting renters during his election campaign over his family’s Kaisuan Condominium (凱旋苑) near Chinese Culture University.
At a news conference in Taipei, Hou’s campaign team presented a letter from Ren in which she vowed to convert the 103-room building, which she inherited from her father, into social housing for young people.
Photo: CNA
“My family has legal ownership of the property, and we legally refurbished it into a condominium,” she wrote in the letter.
Everything related to the property is legal and the family has paid tax on the rental income, she said.
As the property has been managed by Shin-Kong Life Real Estate Service Co (新壽大廈管理維護公司) since 2019, the family has not been involved in increasing rents, she said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
When the management agreement ends in June 2026, the family would convert the property into social housing units for young people, she said.
Although the family cannot change the rents under the management contract, they would seek to subsidize a portion of students’ rents with aid of NT$6,000 per month for single rooms and NT$7,000 for doubles, she said.
Students and advocates on Monday protested outside the building, saying that Hou’s family was profiting off of students, with rents rising annually by at least 5 percent.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Michelle Lin (林楚茵) said that Kaisuan Condominium is registered under Yoyu Co Ltd (又昱實業有限公司), which is headed by Hou’s daughter Hou Yu-fan (侯昱帆).
The company in 2011 signed a 15-year contract with Chinese Culture University to provide housing for students, and in that time, Hou You-yi’s family had made more than NT$300 million (US$9.72 million) from the property, Lin said.
She also said that the company subdivided the building into 99 separate addresses to avoid paying property taxes.
“Since obtaining the property’s operating license in 1997, Hou’s family has evaded paying tax for 26 years, for about NT$4 million in total,” she said.
“Many students cannot afford the condominium’s high rent, with its yearly 5 percent increases, so they want to terminate their rental agreements, but Yoyu would not let them,” DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.
Hou You-yi’s campaign deputy director Hsieh Cheng-ta (謝政達) filed a judicial complaint against DPP members, alleging that they contravened election laws by erecting billboards with photographs of Hou You-yi that said he earned NT$20 million per year from student renters.
DPP spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) said Hou You-yi should explain how he can support housing justice while also profiting from student renters.
“Hou cannot evade these questions. People are seeking clarification on his family’s properties, which runs contrary to his voiced support for housing justice,” Chang said.
Chang said that yearly rent increases of 5 percent with compound interest would add up to NT$20 million over the past few years, adding that Hou You-yi should explain if that amount is correct.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
BOOST IN CONFIDENCE: The sale sends a clear message of support for Taiwan and dispels rumors that US President Donald Trump ‘sold out’ the nation, an expert said The US government on Thursday announced a possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet parts, which was estimated to cost about US$330 million, in a move that an expert said “sends a clear message of support for Taiwan” amid fears that Washington might be wavering in its attitude toward Taipei. It was the first announcement of an arms sale to Taiwan since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. The proposed package includes non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, as well repair and return support for the F-16, C-130 and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft,
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
DISPUTE: A Chinese official prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by saying that ‘the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off,’ after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said. The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation. As of the end of last month,
RSS