《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Group has no right to Taipei building: DPP

By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The Confucius-Mencius Society, which was founded in 1960 and was directed by Chiang Kai-shek （蔣介石）, has occupied a government building in Taipei for 56 years, but the government has done little to recover the property due to the society’s connection with the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT）, Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） lawmakers said yesterday.

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The society has occupied the building owned by the National Education Radio （NER） in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District （中正） since its inception, but the government has not taken any action due to the society’s deep political background, DPP Legislator Lee Li-feng （李麗芬） said.

Chiang was the society’s first honorary chairman and former president Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） is its honorary chairman, while its leadership has been dominated by senior KMT officials, including former premier Lee Huan （李煥） and his daughter, former KMT legislator Diane Lee （李慶安）, as well as former ministers of education Wu Ching-ji （吳清基） and Kuo Wei-fan （郭為藩）, Lee Li-feng said.

“I was wondering what kind of a private organization has the power to take over a government building for so long without ever needing to pay rent and utility bills,” she said, adding that the government has paid the bills over the years.

“The property right issue was not handled properly during the KMT’s party-state rule, but the mistakes should be redressed in an era of transitional justice,” she said.

The issue was first raised in 2002, but the Ministry of Education, which oversees the NER, has “buried its head in the sand” all these years while acquiescing in the society’s illegal occupation of the building, DPP Legislator Ho Hsin-chun （何欣純） said.

The National Property Administration files lawsuits against illegal occupiers of public properties to recover the properties and demands compensation for illegal occupation, Ho said.

“However, the government has been unusually passive about the case. Why has the government not launched a lawsuit or demanded compensation? We cannot accept such a double standard,” she said.

Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Lifelong Education Kuo Shu-fang （郭淑芳） said the NER was not officially designated as the building’s manager until last year, but it has taken action to remove the group, which could not be finalized swiftly due to historical reasons.

NER Deputy Director Lee Fang-chi （李芳琪） said the society already evicted the first floor of the building, and it was planned that the NER could recover the whole building by the end of this year.

The NER will file a lawsuit next year if the building is still not recovered, Lee Fang-chi said.

The society only began paying its utility bills last year at the NER’s request, she added.

Legislators asked the ministry to seek compensation and adopt a firmer stance on public property protection.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES