Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday presented receipts from his trip to Tokyo, where he attended the World Baseball Classic, showing that he paid for the NT$2.14 million (US$67,047) trip himself.
Cho said he made the disclosure as the public has the right to know, and in response to allegations from opposition parties that he had misused public funds for his trip and tried to cover up his itinerary.
The trip was the first time a sitting Taiwanese premier visited Japan since the two countries severed formal diplomatic ties in 1972.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Cho said he took a private one-day trip to the Tokyo Dome to support Team Taiwan, and presented receipts for the charter flight, tickets to the game, tour bus and a yen exchange slip as evidence.
The chartered China Airlines flight cost NT$2.08 million and the receipt showed that the premier had remitted money to the airline under his name.
“I willingly paid for this private trip myself,” Cho said. “It was very important to go there, as the significance far outweights any monetary expenditure.”
He rejected accusations by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, who said Cho “embezzled millions” by taking money from public accounts for the trip.
It was baseless slander from people who were angry that he broke through restrictions against top Taiwan officials visiting foreign countries due to political pressure from Beijing, Cho said.
KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) and other party members said they have a duty to scrutinize public spending.
She accused Cho of making a “secret arrangement” to use the military airbase at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to deceive the public and “hush up” the details of his trip.
The KMT said the trip could escalate tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, and would not help Taiwan-Japan relations.
Tensions between China and Japan have been high since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on a “Taiwan contingency” in November last year.
Retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said that Cho’s flight departed from the military apron of the Songshan airport, which suggested that the trip was not purely private.
There was no precedent for a private trip using the military apron for immigration clearance, Chang said.
Cho said charter flights are commonly used for security reasons.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pai (簡書培) said the KMT was misleading the public.
Cho could not be open about his travel arrangements, as revealing plans beforehand would open the door for China to pressure foreign governments into blocking the trip, Chien said.
Several DPP members also accused the KMT of having a double standard, as several KMT legislators have visited China and met with Chinese officials six times over the past few years, yet they never disclosed whether those were personal visits or official business, nor revealed who paid for the travel and accommodation.
DPP caucus deputy chief executive Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said she had filed a written request with the Legislative Secretariat Office for the bills, receipts and documents related to KMT legislators’ visits to China, but she had not received a reply yet.
“As Cho has provided all his bills, we request that Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) ask KMT legislators to do the same,” Chen added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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