Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweights yesterday refuted a connection between the party and the China Youth Corps, as they celebrated the corps’ 65th anniversary amid the government’s attempt to establish a link between the two.
At a celebration at the Chientan Youth Activity Center in Taipei, KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the activities held by the China Youth Corps today serve the purposes of education, service, health and public welfare, which are also the organization’s founding principles.
“It has helped the Republic of China cultivate a multitude of talents and made tremendous a contribution to society,” Wu said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Tim
The Chientan Youth Activity Center is run by the corps, which was founded in 1952 after the then-KMT central reform committee passed a resolution to “depose Chinese communists and resist Soviet Union forces.” It was known as the China Youth Anti-Communist National Salvation Corps until 2000.
Wu said although the corps did receive subsidies from the Ministry of National Defense in its early years, it has become self-reliant since Jeanne Li (李鍾桂) became director of the corps in 1987.
If the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee rules the corps is a KMT affiliate, it would be far-fetched, unreasonable and illegitimate, Wu said.
The Executive Yuan committee is investigating whether the KMT had ever directly controlled the corp’s personnel, finances and management, with two public hearings held on the issue.
The corps has dismissed such links, saying that it was first founded as a government agency under the defense ministry, before being registered with the Ministry of the Interior as a “social movement organization” and later as an independent nonprofit.
However, the committee said that Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) diaries told a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee in 1958 that the corps, a group affiliated with the defense ministry and an important youth organization for the KMT, should “report its work planning and execution to the party headquarters and receive leadership from the party.”
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) when he was Taipei mayor, said that the China Youth Corps won the bids for five of the city government’s 12 sports centers, but no one from the corps tried to lobby him during the bidding process.
“The corps has recently been subjected to some undeserved mistreatment. I hope it can fight until the end through legal means,” Ma said, adding that no one is entitled to deprive another of their constitutionally protected property rights without a court order.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS