IHT: Taiwan minister 周功鑫 acknowledges owning China property
International Herald Tribune - France
TAIPEI, Taiwan: A prominent Taiwanese Cabinet minister on Thursday acknowledged she owns property in China, setting off a firestorm of criticism on the island that eyes its mainland rival with suspicion.
The question of senior officials having close ties to the mainland is a sensitive one in Taiwan, 60 years after the two sides split amid civil war.
Many Taiwanese believe that owning property on the other side of the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait undermines the official's commitment to maintaining Taiwan's de facto independence, which is supported by an overwhelming majority of the island's 23 million people.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and is committed to unification — by persuasion if possible, by force of necessary.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Cabinet minister Chou Kung-shin, who also serves as National Palace Museum director, confirmed reports in the mass circulation Liberty Times that she owned property in China, without specifying what it was.
She defended herself, saying the purchases happened before she became a minister, though there is no law prohibiting ministers from owning property in China.
"Everything is legitimate," she said. "After I became the director I reported my assets to the government as required by law."
The Liberty Times said Chou owned one residential and one office unit in Shanghai, with a combined value of $880,000.
Lin Hong-chih, a legislative whip of the ruling Nationalist Party, blasted Chou for holding property in China, saying it was an inappropriate for an official of her standing.
"This is something the Taiwanese people will not accept," he said.
Lawmakers from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party also criticized Chou's China property holding, saying it could call into question her loyalty to Taiwan.
Chou's acknowledgment came as she hosted the director of the Shanghai Museum — like the National Palace, a distinguished repository of Chinese art.
Earlier this month, she became the first National Palace director to visit China, concluding an agreement for her institution to borrow 29 Qing Dynasty relics from its namesake in Beijing.
The visit was seen as another important step in President Ma Ying-jeou's China engagement program, which emphasizes building political trust between the sides through closer economic relations.
