Editing Kuomintang (section)

==== Party assets ====
Upon arriving in Taiwan the KMT occupied assets previously owned by the Japanese and forced local businesses to make contributions directly to the KMT. Some of this real estate and other assets was distributed to party loyalists, but most of it remained with the party, as did the profits generated by the properties.<ref>{{cite web |last=Anaforian |first=Daniel |title=KMT Assets a Barrier to Party Reform and Electoral Success |url=https://globaltaiwan.org/2021/04/vol-6-issue-8/ |work=Global Taiwan Brief |date=21 April 2021 |volume=6 |issue=8 |publisher=Global Taiwan Institute |access-date=25 April 2021 |archive-date=25 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425010359/https://globaltaiwan.org/2021/04/vol-6-issue-8/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Dianqing |title=The KMT Party's Enterprises in Taiwan |journal=Modern Asian Studies |date=May 1997 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=399–413|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00014359 |s2cid=143714126 }}</ref>

As the ruling party on Taiwan, the KMT amassed a vast business empire of banks, investment companies, petrochemical firms, and television and radio stations, thought to have made it the world's richest political party, with assets once estimated to be around US$2–10&nbsp;billion.<ref name="KMT_asset">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=898158|newspaper=Economist|title=Taiwan's Kuomintang On the brink|date=6 December 2001|access-date=21 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908041252/http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=898158|archive-date=8 September 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> Although this war chest appeared to help the KMT until the mid-1990s, it later led to accusations of corruption (often referred to as "[[Black gold (politics)|black gold]]").

After 2000, the KMT's financial holdings appeared to be more of a liability than a benefit, and the KMT started to divest itself of its assets. However, the transactions were not disclosed and the whereabouts of the money earned from selling assets (if it has gone anywhere) is unknown. There were accusations in the [[2004 Taiwan presidential election|2004 presidential election]] that the KMT retained assets that were illegally acquired. During the 2000–2008 DPP presidency, a law was proposed by the DPP in the [[Legislative Yuan]] to recover illegally acquired party assets and return them to the government. However, due to the DPP's lack of control of the legislative chamber at the time, it never materialized.

The KMT also acknowledged that part of its assets were acquired through extra-legal means and thus promised to "retro-endow" them to the government. However, the quantity of the assets which should be classified as illegal are still under heated debate. DPP, in its capacity as ruling party from 2000 to 2008, claimed that there is much more that the KMT has yet to acknowledge. Also, the KMT actively sold assets under its title to quench its recent financial difficulties, which the DPP argues is illegal. Former KMT chairman [[Ma Ying-Jeou]]'s position is that the KMT will sell some of its properties at below market rates rather than return them to the government and that the details of these transactions will not be publicly disclosed.

[[File:Shilin Division, Kuomintang Taipei City Committee 20161231.jpg|thumb|Kuomintang public service center in Shilin, Taipei]]
In 2006, the KMT sold its headquarters at 11 Zhongshan South Road in [[Taipei]] to [[Evergreen Group]] for [[New Taiwan dollar|NT$]]2.3&nbsp;billion (US$96&nbsp;million). The KMT moved into a smaller building on Bade Road in the eastern part of the city.<ref>Mo, Yan-chih. "[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/03/23/2003298738 KMT headquarters sold for NT$2.3bn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413190732/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/03/23/2003298738 |date=13 April 2010 }}." ''[[Taipei Times]]''. Thursday 23 March 2006. Page 1. Retrieved 29 September 2009.</ref>

In July 2014, the KMT reported total assets of NT$26.8&nbsp;billion (US$892.4&nbsp;million) and interest earnings of NT$981.52&nbsp;million for the year of 2013, making it one of the richest political parties in the world.<ref>2014-07-24, [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/07/24/2003595820 KMT is again 'world's richest party'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726150524/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/07/24/2003595820 |date=26 July 2014 }}, Taipei Times</ref>

In August 2016, the [[Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee]] was set up by the ruling DPP government to investigate KMT party assets acquired during the [[Martial law in Taiwan|martial law]] period and recover those that were determined to be illegally acquired.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tai|first1=Ya-chen|last2=Hsieh|first2=Chia-chen|last3=Hsu|first3=Elizabeth|title=Commission to investigate KMT assets launched|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201608310021.aspx|access-date=31 August 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=31 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901140008/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201608310021.aspx|archive-date=1 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>