The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) denied yesterday the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) allegation that it illegally purchased the real estate where its headquarters are located.
Launching its latest attack on the KMT's occupation of numerous state-owned properties during its half-century rule, DPP legislative caucus leader Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the KMT had bought the land for NT$4 billion less than the original price.
The KMT headquarters, are located at No. 11 Zhong Shan S. Road, Taipei, next to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and facing the Presidential Office.
When the KMT purchased the site in 1990, each ping of the land was valued at NT$2 million. The KMT, however, bought the real estate for just NT$200,000 a ping. The party bought the land from the National Property Bureau (NPB) at a total price of NT$374 million, according to Chen.
"The KMT illegally gained nearly NT$4 billion from the land deal," Chen said. "The DPP will publish records about the deal shortly."
Countering the accusations, KMT Secretary General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) yesterday described the DPP's strategy as "humiliating and torturing."
Holding a press conference at the KMT headquarters, Lin said that each ping of land cost NT$170,000 in 1990, adding that land prices for the nearby National Taiwan University Hospital and the Presidential Office were roughly the same as those for the KMT headquarters at that time.
Noting that the KMT headquarters, hospital and the Presidential Office were all situated in an "administration zone," Lin said that the KMT bought the land from the NPB at a 20 percent mark up from the market price.
"There was nothing illegal in the purchasing process of the property," Lin said.
NPB officials had investigated the land deal and confirmed that the purchase was entirely legal, said Lin, adding: "I don't know on what basis the DPP makes its accusation."
Lin also branded the DPP's proposal to make a new law handling political parties' illegally acquired assets as anti-constitutional and intended only for political gain.
Chen, however, insisted that the KMT bought land for many of the sites of its local headquarters at ridiculously low prices.
"The KMT profited by at least NT$6.8 billion from these illegal land deals across the island," he added.
The KMT also occupied 114 properties and 19 theaters that used to belong to the Japanese colonial government, Chen said.
"Shouldn't the KMT return these assets to the people and the country?" Chen asked.
Chen added that the government needed to make a new law to tackle the KMT's illegal assets because the occupations occurred too long ago.
"But the KMT has been boycotting the law and has been reluctant to negotiate details of the regulations," Chen Chi-mai said while urging the KMT to stop lying.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS