DPP prepared to fight for ill-gotten party assets bill

By Lee Shin-fang and Yang Chun-huei / Staff reporters





The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on Thursday said that it aims to pass a bill on the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ill-gotten party assets by the end of the current legislative session on Friday next week, or during an extraordinary legislative session, even at the cost of “physical clashes.”

Passing the bill is an important first step for transitional justice in Taiwan and the DPP is determined to have it passed, even if such insistence leads to physical conflict, caucus members said during a luncheon meeting with Premier Lin Chuan (林全).

As the current legislative session is scheduled to ends on Friday next week, a source within the Executive Yuan said the ill-gotten party assets bill is the most uncertain bill yet to clear the floor, and the caucus has informed the premier about it, adding that it might effect the progress of other legislation.

According to the draft bill, which passed an initial review on Wednesday, the Executive Yuan could create a commission to handle illicit party assets, including organizations affiliated with political parties, such as the China Youth Corps and the National Women’s League of the Republic of China, and would require such groups to declare their assets.

During Thursday’s meeting, Lin also asked about Cabinet-proposed tax reform bills and budgets for state-run businesses.

The KMT caucus has proposed more than 1,000 cuts to state-run business budgets, which are all yet to be discussed in cross-party negotiations and could have a significant impact on Taiwan’s economic development, DPP caucus director-general Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said, adding that the budgets were all proposed by the KMT earlier this year when it was still the governing party.

The caucus and the premier also reached an agreement that if the bill and the budgets could not be passed by Friday next week then the DPP would propose holding an extraordinary legislative session on July 18.

Meanwhile, Wu said he would try to negotiate with the KMT caucus over its request that Lin make a presentation regarding last week’s accidental firing of a missile from Kaohsiung into the Taiwan Strait.