President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated that the question of whether former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should be released on medical parole is not a political issue, but a legal and medical one.
Granting Chen medical parole is not a political decision, but a special pardon is, he said, adding that anyone released on medical parole is actually free and can stay in a hospital or at home.
“It actually means being released from prison,” he said in an exclusive interview with CNA.
He said that medical parole is only granted on medical grounds. Only those who cannot receive appropriate treatment in prison can be released on bail for medical treatment, he said.
“There must be a doctor’s -diagnosis that a patient cannot be treated properly in prison,” Ma said.
The issue has been in the public eye for several days, with diehard supporters of Chen — who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence for corruption — calling for a special pardon for the former president, who led the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in defeating the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the 2000 presidential election to end more than 50 years of KMT rule in Taiwan.
Recently, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), a KMT member, called on authorities to consider Chen’s medical parole case from a more lenient point of view.
He expressed hope that granting Chen medical parole would mend cracks in society caused by inter-party conflicts.
Hau said yesterday he respected Ma’s explanation of what medical parole means, but added that the Ministry of Justice should organize a medical group and commission to evaluate Chen’s health.
This, he said, is the only way to win public trust.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday described Hau’s public endorsement of the pan-green proposal as “jumping into a fire pit, while getting burned in the process.”
“To me, the move was a make-or-break situation for Hau, who thought he could bring reconciliation between the two camps simply by jumping into the fire pit and shouting a few words. In the end, he got himself burned,” Hu said.
Dismissing Hu’s remarks, Hau said he was not of the opinion that seeking political rapprochement was a fire pit, but added that he was willing to accept any consequences if it turned out to be one.
The DPP yesterday urged Ma to deliberate on the issue of Chen’s medical parole “from a broader and a higher perspective.”
“Medical parole is not only an issue of medical care and law, but also a political and social issue,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
Public opinion polls showed that more than half of Taiwanese agree that the government should carefully handle the case of Chen’s release for medical treatment, Lin said.
“We urge Ma to approach the issue from a broader and a higher perspective,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang and Stacy Su
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