‘PHANTOM LAW’: The education minister rescinded a law placing the China Youth Corps’ operation of tourist accommodation on public land under his department’s responsibility
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 06, 2018
By: Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporter
The future of the China Youth Corps’ controversial operation of profitable hospitality
The Chientan Youth Activity Center and its affiliated hotel building in Taipei, which are run by the China Youth Corps, are pictured on Nov. 12 last year. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
businesses on state-owned land, which it nominally does to serve young people, has become uncertain after Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) yesterday rescinded a so-called “phantom law” that has allowed the corps to run such businesses.
For years, the corps has made sizable profits from the operation of 12 youth activity centers close to popular tourist destinations and the Kuan Run Youth Hostel in Hualian County — most of which stand on state-owned land — bypassing the Tourism Bureau’s Regulations for the Administration of Hotel Enterprises (旅館業管理規則).
Such privileges were ensured by the Guidelines on Ensuring the Safety and Maintaining Accommodation Facilities at the Youth Activity Center (青年活動中心住宿設施管理及安全維護辦法), a tailor-made law for the corps promulgated in 2014 by former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration. [FULL STORY]
