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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Hung vows to sell KMT assets, donate proceeds
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu yesterday speaks at a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei. Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） yesterday promised to liquidate all party assets, except for legally acquired office spaces and funds to cover personnel costs, and to donate the proceeds to charity.
She also urged President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） not to “exterminate the KMT.”
Hung’s pledge at a morning news conference at KMT headquarters came one day before a draft bill addressing the KMT’s “stolen” party assets comes up for review at a legislative plenary session.
“During former president Chen Shui-bian’s （陳水扁） tenure, the Control Yuan and the Executive Yuan launched full-scale investigations into the KMT’s assets. The party has already dealt with all of its controversial assets,” Hung said.
However, it seems that no matter how humble or aggressive the KMT has been in dealing with the assets issue, the party will continue to be dogged by the public’s concerns as long as there are still assets left, she said.
The party is willing to liquidate all its assets, except for its legally acquired office space, and donate the money to charity — after first paying its debts and protecting the funds needed to cover personnel costs, she said, with a respectable law firm and accountants hired to liquidate the assets.
“Whether or not the draft bill is passed, the KMT will handle its assets based on the above principles,” Hung said.
However, she urged the pan-green camp to draw up party asset legislation that is applicable to all political parties, and called on Tsai to perform her duties in accordance with the law and join the KMT in creating a level playing field for all parties.
“At a time when the public earnestly aspires for reconciliation between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, Tsai chooses to capitalize on her power as president and chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] to launch a purge against a legitimate party,” Hung said.
“Such actions would only aggravate social divisions and hatred,” she said.
Tsai must rein in her actions to prevent the nation from another White Terror era, Hung said.
However, former KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung （楊偉中）, who was expelled by the party last month over his outspokenness, cast doubt on Hung’s determination to deal with the issue.
Hung’s attitude on the matter has always been inconsistent, Yang wrote on Facebook.
“At a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee two weeks ago, a historian invited by Hung to deliver a speech said the party could look at its assets with a clear conscience. Today, Hung criticized the government’s push for transitional justice as an attempt to exterminate the KMT and sow hatred,” Yang said.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang （黃重諺） said resolving the KMT asset issue is critical to achieving transitional justice, creating fair competition among parties and promoting democracy.
“We hope that the legislature can pass the necessary legislation, such as the draft political party act and a bill dealing with ill-gotten party assets, at the earliest date to meet the public’s expectations,” Huang said.
DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng （王閔生） said that the bill targeting ill-gotten party assets was not “a purge.”
“The issue is not the KMT’s internal business. It is about transitional justice, it is about fair competition among political parties and it is crucial to the healthy development of Taiwan’s democracy,” Wang said.
“It is not about green and blue, and it is not a battle between parties. We call on the KMT to support the legislation to respond to society’s high expectations.”
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
