A new US congressional report, Democratic Reforms in Taiwan, says that some events under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration have raised domestic and foreign concern.
In particular, the report by Shirley Kan, a specialist in Asian security affairs, singles out the heavy police presence to control protesters during the visit of a Chinese official in November 2008 and the “prolonged detention” of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
“Under the ROC’s [Republic of China] Constitution, President Ma has the authority to grant amnesties or pardons,” the report says.
“Since 2008, a question has been whether and when Ma might use this power for former president Chen. Ma has not exercised that option and has not criticized his government, including the Justice Ministry and prosecutors. Ma has opted for distance from Chen’s case,” the report says.
As a result, observers in Taiwan and the US have “raised concerns.”
“A number of professors, writers, activists and ex-officials primarily in the United States have signed open letters on what they called the ‘erosion of justice’ in Taiwan,” the report says.
When the American Institute in Taiwan Director William Stanton met with the minister of justice in September last year and mentioned that some people in the US had commented on Chen’s case, he “encountered controversy in Taiwan’s government and media for supposed US interference,” the report says.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) report concludes that US has played an important role in Taiwan’s transition to democracy by decreasing the nation’s sense of insecurity through arms sales and other contacts.
The US Congress has also helped, the report says, “by pressing the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] regime to end authoritarian abuses of power in favor of freedoms for all the people in Taiwan, including the majority Taiwanese.”
The report says that a sustainable democracy helps Taiwan to guard against “undue” Chinese influence as cross-strait engagement has intensified under Ma.
“A Taiwan that promotes values of democracy and freedom would be more likely to be strategically oriented in alignment with the US and US allies in Asia and Europe,” the report says.
The report says the US Congress has a long record of oversight of the human rights aspect of White House foreign policy toward Taiwan.
Congress could enact legislation or take other actions to promote human rights and legal reform in Taiwan, it says.
“Members as well as staff could intensify inter-parliamentary exchanges with Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan and its staff to build up that democratic institution,” it says.
“Congressional and staff delegations could further observe Taiwan’s elections and attend presidential inaugurations” the report concludes.
“In contrast to the Executive Branch which is restricted by the State Department’s guidelines on contact with Taiwan’s officials, Congress could use its greater flexibility in communicating with Taiwan’s officials up to the president to enhance engagement that promotes US values, democracy and rule of law,” it says.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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