5 Presidents and 3 Board Members of CCBA clarify the partnership with CCWA to be discussed next year

(SAN FRANCISCO) Wind Newspaper Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Portia Li reported in its Issue 57 published on September 28 that the Board of Directors of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) voted in its September monthly meeting to end the 20-year partnership with Chinese Consolidated Women's Association (CCWA) to be in effect from 2022.

Ju Chan Chu, sitting Presiding President of CCBA, called for a press conference on October 2 to clarify that the resolution was passed to have further discussion on the partnership next year.

CCBA and CCWA have co-hosted a number of events each year, including Best Mother Awards, Scholarship Program, and Outstanding Overseas Chinese Awards.

Roger Louie, whose wife is one of the leaders in CCWA, spoke in the press conference repeatedly to suggest banning the reporter from covering the future CCBA meetings. "If there is a reporter who makes inaccurate reports, I suggest that the reporter be banned from coming to our meeting next time. It will create chaos."

In recent years, there has been controversy about some of the honorees at the CCWA award events, including the upcoming October 16 award banquet to honor the Outstanding Overseas Chinese.

Ding Bong Lee, one of the board members of CCBA, spoke first on the issue of CCBA/CCWA partnership in the September monthly meeting. Lee noted that members of the Seven President Committee in CCBA were not allowed to vote on the honorees of the CCWA events. It triggered more discussions on the issue among the board members in the meeting.

Harrison Lim, a senior Board Member of CCBA, narrated the history of CCWA which was founded in 1998. CCWA is a non-profit organization made up of all women.

"For the past 20 years, more talented women have joined CCWA, they have been more financially stable, they have established their foundation with the community, now is the time for them to be independent from CCBA and plan for all the events on their own," said Lim in the September meeting.

Portia Li was at the meeting and witnessed the entire discussion between board members. Wing T. Huang （黃榮達）proposed a resolution to end the partnership at the present time. It was seconded by Mar (馬金權) and Mel Lee.

Roger Louie then stood up asking for continuous partnership with CCWA for the upcoming Outstanding Overseas Chinese Award banquet which will be held on October 16 this year.

In our article published on September 28, one paragraph was in the article related to Louie. 'Roger Louie is a Board Member of CCBA and his wife Amy Louie is the Honorary President of CCWA. Louie suggested ending the partnership starting from 2022, since the Outstanding Oversea Chinese Awards in October has been planned for sometime.'

Also in the article published on September 28, we reported that the Board of Directors of CCBA passed the amended resolution with a majority vote to include Louie's suggestion to end the partnership with CCWA in effect from 2022. Board members agreed that CCBA could continuously support CCWA's events via sponsorship instead of partnership.

Chu called for a press conference on October 2 to clarify the resolution was passed to delay the matter until next year for further discussion. Seven other family association leaders joined Chu to attend the press conference and express their views. They were Chung San Szto, President of Sue Hing Benevolent Association, Check Yin Tsang, President of Kong Chow Benevolent Association, Leong (梁國源), President of Yeong Wo Benevolent Association, Gordon Kwan, President of Sam Yup Benevolent Association, Board Members Thomas Ng, Wing Cheung and Roger Louie.

"Right before the board members raised their hands to vote on the Huang resolution, two senior board members Thomas Ng and Harrison Lim introduced another resolution to delay the discussion to next year. The later proposal was passed by the majority," said Chu. Ng showed up in the press conference to confirm that it was his proposed resolution. Lim was not present at the press event.

Louie spoke loudly in the press conference and denied support of ending the partnership. "What I said in the meeting was we needed to stop the argument now. Everything would be the same this year. We would plan what to do next year."

When asked by Portia Li why Huang and Mar, the board members who proposed and seconded the original resolution respectively, did not attend the presser, Chu responded, "I had notified them. It is up to them if they want to show up. I don't know about it. When someone proposes a resolution, it doesn't mean that it will be automatically passed."

"It was only a temporary motion, not a resolution," said Tsang of Kong Chow Association. He continued, "CCBA had to pass a resolution to start the partnership with CCWA 20 years ago. It needs to have 2/3 votes of the board if anyone wants to overturn a 20-year-old resolution."

Gordon Kwan and Wing Cheung, both are the representatives from Sam Yup Benevolent Association, supported the continuation of the partnership with CCWA.

"CCBA is the dragon head among the members in the Chinatown community. CCWA has done lots of grassroot work for the seniors and honoring the outstanding Chinese Americans. The partnership is just like the Peony and green leaves supporting each other to have mutual benefit," said Cheung.

Wind Newspaper reported in the September 28 issue, 'During the past decade, the family associations under CCBA have had different positions on the political issues related to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But the majority of the board members at CCBA were consistent on the resolution to suspend the partnership with CCWA."

Szto and Chu said it was wrong for the Wind Newspaper to put the issue of the politics between China and Taiwan in the article.

This is the third time for Chu to be the Presiding President of CCBA this year. Wang Donghua, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco, was invited by Chu to his swearing-in ceremonies in CCBA.

Scott Lai, Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, was invited by Szto to the ceremony where he was sworn in as the Presiding President of CCBA in March this year.

"In the meetings, I have never talked about politics. The article which relates the political elements to the issue would divide the members of the CCBA," said Szto.

Chu echoed and said, "We have never been political."

But on the next day after the press conference, October 3, a forum to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution was held at the Victory Hall in Chinatown. The forum was co-hosted by CCBA and Committee Promote the Reunification of China (SF Bay Area Chapter), a group known for supporting China. Chu and all seven members who spoke at the press conference were in attendance at the forum.