When Deputy Minister of Justice and state prosecutor-general nominee Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) told recent a hearing that all the convicts on death row should be executed, it is safe to assume that he had no idea how much trouble his statement would cause.
The first victim of the ensuing commotion was his then-boss, former minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), who was forced to resign a few days later after coming under pressure over a statement that she did not intend to carry out any executions during her tenure.
Since then, debate has raged on the issue of capital punishment. One of the first acts of new Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) was to order a review of the cases of all death row inmates, with Tseng implying that any inmates whose guilt was confirmed would likely be executed.
Now it appears the resumption of executions — something that is looking increasingly likely — after an unofficial five-year moratorium may have even more far-reaching ramifications, including the possible delay of Taiwan’s long-held goal of visa-free travel status for the EU.
This would certainly seem to be the case following a hastily arranged meeting on Thursday between the EU’s top representative to Taiwan and Cabinet officials where they “exchanged views on capital punishment.”
The government and the new justice minister could do worse than listen to the reasoned opinion of the country’s European partners rather than giving in to the irrational blood-lust of a few attention-seeking politicians and public figures, whether such a move has public support or not.
While politicians and those in high office never miss an opportunity to tout Taiwan as a “human rights respecting” member of the global community, these people have to realize that if Taiwan wants to be taken seriously it needs to live up to these claims and play by the rules — rules that equate respecting human rights with the end of state-sponsored executions.
Taiwan can’t have its cake and eat it.
For far too long, almost every politician in this country has been willing to ignore capital punishment while falling back on the old chestnut that abolition will have to “wait until a public consensus is reached” on the odd occasion this emotive issue rears its ugly head — safe in the knowledge this will not happen.
While there continues to be majority support for capital punishment in Taiwan — a survey in the wake of Wang’s resignation found three-quarters of respondents against its abolition — there have not been crowds of people protesting for the resumption of executions since they were halted in 2005.
The execution of violent criminals may give victims’ families a feeling of retribution and a sense that justice has been done, but it achieves little else, as countless studies have shown that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent.
People should be even more cautious in their support, as many of those on death row have been convicted on the flimsiest of evidence.
The sooner more people become aware of these facts, the better. If, as so often seems the case, people really do care about how Taiwan is viewed by the rest of the international community, then a serious, hyperbole-free discussion with a view to reaching that long awaited consensus should take place — preferably before the next bullet is fired.
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS