Mon, Jul 06, 2026 page2

• Many KMT assets fell into private hands: ex-official

  • By Ou Hsiang-yi, Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
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  Many of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) state assets that the government has been trying to reclaim were registered under nominees’ names and became unrecoverable due to political changes and the deaths of those nominees, former KMT treasurer Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) yesterday said.

  Liu, who headed the KMT’s Investment and Business Management Committee from 1993 to 2000, said that before he took over, KMT-run businesses generated about NT$2 billion (US$62.64 million) in annual profits.

  During Liu’s tenure, profits rose to more than NT$10 billion, but fell back to about NT$2 billion after he stepped down, with most gains ending up in private hands, he said.

  

  Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) treasurer Liu Tai-ying is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Taipei Times

  Assets recovered by the government’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee — set up in 2016 — represented only “the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

  The KMT long lacked legal entity status, requiring assets to be registered under nominees’ names, Liu said.

  After he advised then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to register the party as a legal entity, the KMT began recovering assets using inventories and written agreements with nominees, Liu said.

  The largest holdings, which were registered under former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), were eventually recovered despite initial difficulties, Liu said.

  Party assets recovered at the time from nominees were valued at more than NT$100 billion at market prices, he said.

  “The worst situation was when a nominee died, because then the assets could no longer be recovered,” he said, adding that heirs often refused to recognize the agreements, leaving the KMT without legal grounds to reclaim the property.

  After Lee stepped down as chairman in 2000, much of the KMT’s assets flowed into private hands, making it difficult, if not impossible, to find where they went, Liu said.

  Liu said he also tried to recover KMT assets in China, including an interest in Tsingtao Brewery, which he described as one of the party’s earliest holdings.

  Chinese authorities initially agreed to assess the KMT’s entitlement as an original shareholder, but the effort ended after he left office, he said.

  An official with the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said that the agency invited Liu to submit evidence or leads about the assets’ current whereabouts.

  A KMT official said that chapter of the party’s history had long since closed.

  “If there are still any KMT assets that can legally be recovered, we would welcome Liu to disclose them publicly, because the KMT is genuinely short of money now,” they said.

  The official, who asked not to be named, said the party has faced severe financial strain since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government froze its assets, forcing the KMT to rely on election subsidies and donations under the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).

  The official said the DPP was using transitional justice and the judicial system to dismantle the KMT and deepen social divisions.

  Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
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