《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Hung offers assets-for-accounts deal

By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） yesterday said that the party would be willing to donate some of its assets to the state on the condition that its savings be unfrozen.

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Hung was in New Taipei City to attend the city chapter’s celebration of the 122th anniversary of the founding of the KMT’s predecessor the Revive China Society.

Hung said that party headquarters would undergo restructuring, but it “has not found [funds] to pay party workers’ pensions and severance.”

She called on the Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to unfreeze the party’s accounts.

“The KMT does not need all of its assets and is willing to donate some of them to the state for public welfare, but [the committee] should allow us to at least deal with some of the assets, while it should unfreeze the bank accounts so we can pay our workers,” the chairwoman said.

“I have shouldered a NT$90 million [US$2.81 million] debt for the party,” she said, adding that salaries for September and last month were paid using the loan.

The KMT is facing “a ruthless hunt by the ruling party in its vendetta to lay waste to the KMT,” Hung said.

“The ruling party will not be able to deprive us of our morale by stripping us of our assets, as the KMT is a party that used to be lovable, establishing the first democratic republic in Asia and sowing the seeds of hope in the land of Taiwan, making it one of the Asian Tigers,” she said.

The assets crisis is a turning point, Hung said, adding that the KMT needs to “rethink how it can win back people’s hearts and undertake reforms that might be difficult and painful.”

“There will be no future for the party without changes, which would include having more young people participate in party affairs, flattening its hierarchy and relying more on volunteers,” she said.

“Taiwan cannot be without the KMT, and the Republic of China [ROC] even more so,” Hung said.

She presided over a ceremony at the event to confer new party memberships.

She said she was grateful that many young people joined the party in spite of the predicament it is in.

“ROC father Sun Yat-sen’s （孫逸仙） revolution for the founding of the ROC relied on the endeavors and sacrifices of young people,” she said.

Hung confirmed reports that the KMT would hold a chairperson election ahead of schedule in June or July.

The plan has met opposition within the party, as some consider it a ploy by the Hung faction to capitalize on the political momentum she gained from her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） this month.

Hung said the election would be held “in accordance with party regulations.”

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES