A former lawmaker who will soon take up the chair of a committee to tackle illegal party assets has accused the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) of hurting the basis of communication.
Wellington Koo, a former lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said KMT Chair Hung Hsiu-chu should learn what “governing by the rule of law” means.
His comments come after Hung said the gold and art treasures transported from mainland China to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war in the late 1940s belong to the KMT’s assets.
Koo said the KMT must first understand the difference between national property and political party assets.
“No political party in any democracy can lay claim to the property that belongs to the Republic of China or that the nation inherited. [No one should] claim that the property belongs to KMT at certain stages or under certain circumstances," said Koo.
Koo said it saddens him that the KMT has that mentality.
The KMT governed Taiwan as an authoritarian party state until full representative democracy was achieved in the 1990s.