Two US lawmakers have submitted a medical report calling for immediate medical parole for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
“Because it is not easily predictable how much Chen’s incarceration conditions need to improve to prevent further serious physical and mental damage, medical parole is the most appropriate effective treatment intervention,” the report said.
It was written by former medical professor Joseph Lin and current medical professors Ken Yoneda and Charles Whitcomb of the University of California.
They visited Chen in prison in Taiwan about a month ago.
The medical team also said there were “compelling humanitarian grounds” for releasing Chen.
“We went to Taiwan as private neutral American citizens, concerned about reports on the medical condition of President Chen,” Lin said.
“We came back convinced that the conditions of his confinement are utterly unacceptable having caused extreme mental stress and serious medical symptoms, some potentially life-threatening,” he said.
Lin said that Chen’s mental state was “particularly worrisome.”
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission was formed by the US Congress and is currently co-chaired by Republican Representative Frank Wolf and Democratic Representative James McGovern.
Democratic Representative Robert Andrews and Republican Representative Dan Lungren formally submitted the report to the commission.
The doctors hope that the commission will convene a hearing on Chen’s case and strongly urge President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to grant medical parole.
“Taiwanese Americans are outraged by the treatment of former president Chen,” Formosan Association for Public Affairs president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
“The deterioration in Chen’s physical and mental health is becoming increasingly disturbing to more and more members of Congress,” Kao said.
“To safeguard the welfare of the former president, prevent the deepening of social conflict and preserve Taiwan’s status as a democratic, rights-respecting country, the Ma administration must act immediately,” he added.
Former co-chair of the Taiwan Caucus Representative Steve Chabot said during a recent US congressional hearing that Chen’s incarceration was a “tragedy.”
Saying the charges against Chen amounted to a “criminalization of politics,” he compared Taiwan to a “banana republic.”
Earlier this week, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) joined a signature drive to request medical parole for Chen, adding that he had written letters asking the public and DPP lawmakers, as well as city and county councilors, to support the drive.
It was the first time that Su has taken a public stance on the signature drive that was launched by National Taiwan University doctor Ko Wen-che (柯文哲), medical professionals and pro-DPP groups earlier this year.
Additional reporting by CNA
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS