Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) yesterday apologized over reports that she failed to disclose properties she owned in California, but said they were acquired in her name by her father decades ago.
Her comments came a day after former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) accused Lee of concealing her wealth and having a green card allowing permanent residency in the US.
Kao said Lee had purchased and sold 10 properties in California’s Irvine County between 1994 and 2002, citing a Control Yuan report.
Photo: Taipei Times
Lee issued a partial denial, telling a news conference that she owned two properties in the area, but does not have a green card and has never applied for one.
While she was studying at the University of California, Irvine, her father purchased homes so that she would not need to rent a unit or live with others, Lee said.
The properties were in Irvine because it was close to the campus, she said.
Her father, Lee Chin-chuan (李金璋), then a Taipei city councilor, had a stroke and she returned to Taiwan from her graduate program to enter politics, she said, adding that she won a Taipei city councilor seat in 1998.
The failure to disclose her ownership of the properties stemmed from unfamiliarity with election laws, not willful deceit, she said.
“I sincerely apologize for the mistake and will accept any resulting administrative penalties,” Lee Yen-hsiu said.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS