A pro-independence group staged a protest rally in front of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) headquarters yesterday, demanding that the party return its stolen assets to the nation.
Peter Wang (王獻極), convener of the "908 Taiwan Nation Movement," said it would launch an islandwide campaign to step up pressure on the KMT and launch a signature drive to push for a national referendum on its party assets.
Wang said that as the KMT had not brought a single cent with it to Taiwan when it was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, how could it have amassed such a fortune, including countless pieces of land and numerous investments, in five decades of rule.
plunder
He said that the KMT had taken over people's lands and even channeled money from the nation's coffers to subsidize the party during its rule.
"The KMT has become one of the richest political parties in the world through its plundering," he said.
He urged the public to join the group's campaign to press the KMT to return the stolen assets, promising that those who join the campaign would be given NT$100,000 (US$3,068) in subsidies if the KMT returns the assets to the nation and the people.
The protesters began to gather in the afternoon outside the KMT headquarters, which recently relocated to a more modest building after the party sold its grand office near the Presidential Office.
black gold politics
They shouted slogans and sang songs, such as The Victory of All People and Marching for a New Constitution.
The group also performed a skit, taking out brooms and buckets to clean and scrub the image of Taiwan corrupted by "black gold" politics to return it to its original lush, green color.
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