After accusing Chairman Xu Jiaqing of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council of the Legislative Yuan to use his privileges to allow his son to visit Dongsha Island, the Legislative Yuan People's Party again accused Xu of letting his son visit Dongsha Island as a "photographer", and her husband Tang Bowei even used the official vehicle of a foreign embassy as a private car. In this regard, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council stated that all official itineraries were declared and verified in accordance with the law, and all write-offs were reviewed in accordance with regulations. There was no misuse of public funds for personal gain.
The Overseas Chinese Affairs Council pointed out that the purpose of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council is to connect overseas Chinese around the world, assist in the development of overseas overseas communities, and unite the hearts of overseas Chinese. Chairman Xu Jiaqing leads a delegation to overseas inspections and attends major events in the overseas Chinese community, which are all necessary trips to legally perform official duties. All travel plans, staffing and budgetary expenditures are verified and processed in accordance with the "Key Points for Reporting Expenses for Overseas Travel Expenses" and relevant budget regulations. All expense reports and write-offs are strictly supervised by the auditing agencies, and there is nothing illegal or untrue. The dispatch of Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee personnel and official vehicles are also in compliance with relevant operating regulations. The scope of use is limited to official travel, and there is no private use or overuse.
In addition, in response to the public party group's doubts about the sudden increase in the budgets of "Overseas Chinese Youth League Services" and "Overseas Chinese Students/Youth Training", the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council explained that the 116-year budget for Overseas Chinese Youth League Services increased by 533 million, mainly to cooperate with the optimization of overseas service bases and the purchase of overseas education centers to increase overseas service capacity and improve the use demand of service bases; the 116th annual budget for overseas Chinese students/overseas Chinese youth training 1 627 million yuan, an increase of 433 million yuan from the previous year. This is because the number of students has increased year by year, and at the same time, the operation and teaching capacity of overseas Chinese schools have been continuously strengthened, the Chinese language ability of Chinese youth has been improved, and overseas talents have been retained. In addition, the cost of lottery subsidies has increased significantly, mainly because the high-end tuition fees for specialized classes for overseas Chinese students, which were previously shared with the Ministry of Education, will be fully borne by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee from next year.
As for the popular party group's point that the budget for "overseas Chinese businessmen's economic business" has not increased but decreased, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council said that the relevant accusations are inconsistent with the facts. The overseas Chinese businessmen's business budget for next year will actually increase by 11.213 million yuan, an increase of 20%. This year, the overseas Chinese merchant business should donate to the Overseas Credit Guarantee Fund for capital increase. Therefore, based on the financial institution donation ratio of 6:4, based on the pledged donations from private financial institutions from 114 to the end of 2016, the government will provide a subsidy of 181.5 million yuan in two years in proportion (105 million yuan for 2015 and 76.5 million yuan for 2016). Therefore, 116 has a reduction of 28.5 million yuan compared with 2015. After excluding this factor, the actual business expenses of overseas Chinese businessmen increased compared with the previous year.
The Overseas Chinese Affairs Council emphasized that they have long been adhering to the principle of "administration in accordance with the law and streamlining finances" to promote various overseas businesses. They are grateful to all walks of life and the Legislative Yuan for their supervision and guidance. In the future, they will continue to prudently implement various budgets with the highest legal standards, implement openness and transparency of public affairs resources, and devote themselves to serving overseas Chinese around the world and promoting overseas Chinese affairs.
