Leveling the Playing Field in Taiwan

Taiwan's new government is shaking up the political order on the island. The country's legislature passed a law in July requiring political parties to return any "ill-gotten" assets acquired since 1945 -- when Japan turned control of the island to the KMT (then China's ruling party) -- to the government. That law has now been put into action. On Sept. 22, Taiwanese authorities announced they had frozen a bank account belonging to the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party on allegations that it used those funds to pay its employees' salaries and pensions. The news received little attention outside Taiwan, but it could herald more reforms to the island state's political structure....