Firms with 30% foreign funds get political ban

The amendment strictly prohibits companies with 30 percent shares or 1/3 shareholder positions owned by foreign, mainland Chinese or Hong Kong investors from making political contributions.

The draft, proposed by opposition Democratic Progress Party (DPP) lawmakers including Chiu Yi-ying, tightens up the current law restricting only companies with more then half of their shares or shareholder positions owned by investors from the mentioned nationalities.

On the other hand, the committee killed a motion by the DPP to scrap the existing ban on contributions from businesses with deficits. The DPP Caucus requested that the ban be removed on the grounds that politicians or parties cannot possibly know whether a company is in the red.

The committee also banned another DPP proposition to scrap the current cap on the ratio of anonymous donations to 1/10 of a party's declared campaign fund because it hampers fair competition among political parties and harms smaller parties.

In response to the requirements, Chien Tai-lang, administrative vice minister of the Ministry of the Interior, said that the 1/10 cap is to ensure the transparency of political contributions and that such a restriction is lax compared to other countries such as Korea.

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