NO SENSE:KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling said the decision to visit Hawaii before the Marshall Islands was like ‘setting out from Taipei to visit Taichung via Kaohsiung’

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2017
By: Sean Lin and Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporters

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “lavish” trip to visit the nation’s diplomatic allies in the South Pacific ignored the dire financial situation faced by the nation, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators said yesterday, demanding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs account for Tsai’s “excessive” spending.

Tsai spent NT$76.8 million (US$2.54 million) on chartered flights, which is more than double the amount former presidents Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) spent, the KMT caucus said, comparing Tsai to an extravagant “empress” inspecting her realm.

Ma in 2010 used two planes to visit six diplomatic allies in the South Pacific.

The trip cost about NT$30 million, the caucus said.

Chen in 2005 used two planes and visited three allies in the region, spending a total of NT$31.51 million, it said.    [FULL  STORY]