The Central Election Commission (CEC) has published the asset declarations made by candidates running in Jan. 11’s presidential and legislative elections, and invited the public to view the information on its official Web site.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, acquired one piece of land in each of Taipei’s Wenshan (文山) and Neihu (內湖) districts since the previous presidential election, and is still in possession of the four properties she had at that time — one in each of Taipei’s Songshan (松山) and Daan (大安) districts, and two in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) — as well as one building unit in Daan, and another in Yonghe, the information showed.
Tsai has NT$48.77 million (US$1.6 million) in cash savings, NT$4.14 million in company shares, and NT$1.1 million in other investments, the data showed.
Photo: Central Election Commission via CNA
In the remarks section of her report, Tsai wrote that she entrusted a lawyer to establish an account for the funds she received as political donations for the 2012 presidential election, and that the funds — amounting to NT$1.7 million — would be donated to the Thinking Taiwan Foundation and other organizations.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, reported NT$31.89 million in savings, NT$14.25 million in company shares and NT$11.94 million in beneficiary certificates.
His wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), reported NT$10 million of investments in family-owned firm Han Lin Fang Construction (翰霖坊建設), and NT$12.35 million in debts.
In the remarks section the couple wrote that they had paid NT$15 million for Han’s election deposit, and had received NT$6.72 million in political donations.
They did not report any real-estate assets.
Sandra Yu (余湘), People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) running mate, reported joint savings with her husband, Wu Li-hsing (吳力行), of NT$96.27 million, and business investments worth NT$610 million.
Yu also reported NT$128 million worth of assets in the form of jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and other collections.
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a Taiwan Action Party Alliance legislator-at-large nominee, reported various assets, but next to each item wrote: “All of my assets have been seized by the special investigators of the Republic of China Supreme Court.”
Chinese Unity Promotion Party founder and legislator-at-large nominee Chang An-le (張安樂) reported cash savings of NT$500,000 and non-deposited cash of NT$500,000.
All his other assets were in China, including property in Shenzhen worth NT$40 million and cash savings worth about NT$2.16 million, he wrote.
KMT legislator-at-large nominee Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) — a retired lieutenant general who has sparked controversy for saying that he intends to “represent the Chinese Communist Party to monitor the elections of Taiwan Province” — reported NT$43 million in assets.
Among his assets Wu Sz-huai reported five foundations in his name.
PFP legislator-at-large nominee Amanda Liu (劉宥彤) reported NT$15.47 million in savings, and NT$25.84 million in loans and other debts.
Liu, who is also the Yonglin Education Foundation’s chief executive officer, reported owning eight pieces of land and two building units.
Liu and her husband, who is a Hon Hai Precision Industry Co employee, reported owning 170,000 shares in the firm.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large nominee Ann Kao (高虹安) said that her assets were largely comprised of foreign-currency deposits, which were worth NT$8.77 million.
PFP legislator-at-large nominee Evelyn Tsai (蔡沁瑜) reported owning one piece of land that she had inherited and four properties she had purchased.
She also reported NT$740,000 in savings and 1,000 shares in Hon Hai.
The three women were top members of Hon Hai founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) campaign office when he was seeking the KMT’s presidential nomination.
TPP legislator-at-large nominee Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) — who is also Shin Kong Life Insurance Co’s deputy general manger — reported NT$60 million in securities, as well as real estate in England.
DPP legislator-at-large nominee Enoch Wu (吳怡農) reported NT$23.3 million in cash savings and NT$27.28 million in bonds.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as