Taipei Times
Date: Mar 12, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
The National Women’s League should disclose its assets as part of new
New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming, center, holds a press conference in Taipei yesterday calling on the National Women’s League to disclose its assets. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
broader financial reporting requirements for political organizations, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.
“The National Women’s League was established by the KMT, but they have refused to respond to the questions about exactly how much of the nation’s treasury flowed into their coffers,” he said. “To say that the government did not participate in the group’s fundraising efforts is ridiculous. Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) let his wife call for donations and then forced the entire nation to pay.”
Chiang’s wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡) established the league and served as its head for decades. A tariff called the “Military Benefit Tax” benefiting the league was levied on the US dollar value of all imported goods between 1955 to 1989, allowing the league to finance a broad range of charitable work, notably including the construction of military dependents’ villages.
Hsu criticized the Ministry of the Interior for not forcing the organization to publicize its finances, saying that it could use provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法) to threaten the league with dissolution for illegal behavior if it refuses to disclose its financial records. [FULL STORY]
