A number of Taiwanese organizations in Toronto issued a joint statement on Friday demanding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration take stern disciplinary action against a Government Information Office (GIO) official who allegedly wrote articles smearing Taiwan and Taiwanese, provoking ethnic tensions.
The allegations were made on March 11 by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), who accused former acting director of the Information Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) of writing the articles using the pen name Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽).
“In his articles, Kuo appears to have no feelings at all for the country in which he was raised, calling it an ‘evil spot’ or a ‘haunted island’ and insulting its people, calling Taiwanese ‘rednecks’ ... We demand that the government of President Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] take a clear stand, recall Kuo and remove him from any official position. We further urge the government to make a clear statement that people who hold such views cannot represent Taiwan overseas,” the statement said.
“According to an internal investigation by the Government Information Office, his office computer had on it these controversial articles. That proves that he was writing the articles, not connected with his work, during office hours,” the statement said. “Incredibly, the government of President Ma handed only the lightest punishment of a transfer to another job to this civil servant loyal to the People’s Republic of China, treated him with courtesy on his return to Taiwan and let him get away with leaving the country the day after he was punished. We find this shocking.”
The statement also panned Kuo for “seriously distorting events in Taiwan’s modern history” by describing Chen Yi (陳儀), administrator of Taiwan during the 228 Incident, as “a virtuous official.”
“We call on Taiwan’s government to act in the spirit of UN General Assembly Resolutions 60/7 [establishing a global day of holocaust remembrance] and 61/255 [condemning holocaust denial] and to bring in legislation confirming the historical status of the 228 Massacre and forbidding any minimization or denial of the same,” the statement added.
Pedro Yuan (袁凱聲), acting director of the International Information Office of the GIO, said yesterday that the GIO would take more action on the case after it had obtained more “solid evidence” on whether or not Kuo wrote the articles.
Kuo reported to the GIO on Monday after he was summoned to return to Taiwan in order to provide an explanation. He denied he was Fan and was referred to the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries for investigation because there was a “substantial gap” between the evidence collected by GIO’s ethics personnel and Kuo’s version of story.
Kuo flew back to Toronto the next day so that he could hand over his duties to other staf members and he has been instructed by the GIO to return to Taiwan by the end of the month, officials said.
On Friday, the GIO said Kuo did not show up at the Toronto office on Wednesday and Thursday. The GIO said if Kuo was absent from work for two more business days, he would likely receive two major demerits and for that the GIO could relieve Kuo of his civil servant status in accordance with the Civil Service Performance Evaluation Act (公務人員考績法).
Yuan said yesterday that Kuo had reported to work on Friday, the third day after his return from Taiwan. Yuan said the GIO expected to receive a written statement from Kuo tomorrow explaining why he did not show up at work on Wednesday and Thursday.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday panned the government for not disciplining Kuo harshly enough.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
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