After coming under fire for not standing up for Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) in the immediate aftermath of her controversial disqualification from the Asian Games last week, the government finally caught on two days later, holding a press conference on Friday pledging to seek justice for Yang.
However, despite the action undertaken by members of the public who, on their own initiative, gave Yang a hero’s welcome upon her arrival in Taipei on Monday, the government has done little to show that it is determined to follow through on its vow to defend Yang’s name and dignity.
After watching government inaction and listening to officials’ rhetoric, many wonder if President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration is sincere in saying that it will seek justice, or if it is merely hoping that making promises is enough to quell public outrage.
The Ma government said it would offer reasonable compensation to Yang, with Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) adding that Yang would be treated as a gold medalist. It turns out, however, that Yang may not get the NT$3 million (US$98,000) cash award usually presented to gold medal winners, with Wu saying the Sports Affairs Council would have to convene a meeting to determine whether the money would be issued to Yang as a cash award or in the form of a fund for the purpose of training.
The Ma government called for a probe into Yang’s controversial disqualification. With an Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) investigation still under way, why was the premier so quick and so certain when he defended ATU vice president Zhao Lei (趙磊) on Monday, saying that Zhao did not play a role in Yang’s disqualification?
The Ma government said it would stand behind Yang and fight for fair treatment. The ATU later apologized for posting an article on its Web site accusing Yang and the Taiwan team of cheating, but the apology was only made in a private meeting. If the Ma government is interested in clearing Yang’s name, it should demand that the ATU post the apology on its Web site to make it clear that Yang is not a cheater. In view of the rampant articles in the Chinese media branding Yang a cheater, shouldn’t the Ma government order the Government Information Office to issue a rebuttal or demand that Chinese media correct their libelous reports?
The Ma government said it would seek justice for Yang. Its plan to abandon filing the case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and instead sue World Taekwondo Federation secretary-general Yang Jin-suk in Guangzhou, China, for slander and forgery perplexes many. Aside from the murky legal proceedings, one prominent question also rings in the minds of many: Can a local court in China restore justice to Yang as effectively as the Court of Arbitration for Sport could?
The unfair disqualification has sparked indignation among Taiwanese. However, it would be even more despicable if the Taiwanese athlete’s own government were to play a part in covering up the real culprit of the unfair ruling and fails to keep its pledge to stand up for its athletes’ rights.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the
Delegation-level visits between the two countries have become an integral part of transformed relations between India and the US. Therefore, the visit by a bipartisan group of seven US lawmakers, led by US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul to India from June 16 to Thursday last week would have largely gone unnoticed in India and abroad. However, the US delegation’s four-day visit to India assumed huge importance this time, because of the meeting between the US lawmakers and the Dalai Lama. This in turn brings us to the focal question: How and to what extent