The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday it planned to summon President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as a witness in a probe into allegations that Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) illegally monitored an opposition lawmaker’s telephone calls and leaked the content of the wiretaps to Ma.
Citing a gag order, Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman Huang Mo-hsin (黃謀信) said the office could not discuss its investigative process, while local media reported that the office had contacted the Presidential Office to ask when Ma would be available.
When asked for a response, Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said the Presidential Office respects the judiciary, but would not comment because of the gag order.
At issue is the SID’s press conference on Sept. 6, during which prosecutors said that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had been involved in improper lobbying of then-minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) at the request of Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Ker allegedly asked Wang to use his influence to prevent prosecutors from appealing Ker’s June 18 acquittal by the Taiwan High Court in a breach of trust case.
Huang Shih-ming told a Sept. 9 press conference that he had gone to Ma’s residence to report on Wang’s involvement on Aug. 31, which was before the investigation had finished. He told a legislative session on Sept. 25 that Ma had asked him to visit his residence again on Sept. 1 to brief him on the details of the Wang case.
On Monday night, Huang Shih-ming told the Chinese-language Apple Daily that Ma had phoned him after the SID had held its Sept. 6 press conference, raising further questions about Ma’s role in pursuing the case.
The legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee had earlier on Monday passed a motion to have the SID turn its active cases over to regular prosecutors and not open new cases.
Lee yesterday said that Ma had talked to Huang Shih-ming by telephone “several times” after the SID’s Sept. 6 press conference, but did not dictate what the prosecutor-general should do in the case.
Ma simply asked him to clear up doubts that had been raised over the case, Lee said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said Ma telephoning Huang Shih-ming about the case was not evidence that Ma tried to improperly influence the prosecutor-general.
“It depended on what they had said over the phone. Just now, I called several people. Does that mean that I engaged in undue influence?” Lo said in response to a reporter’s question.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
COUNTERING THE PLA: While the US should reinforce its relations with partners and allies, Taiwan must invest in strengthening its defenses as well, Phillip Davidson said If influence in the Indo-Pacific region is one of the US’ core interests, then Taiwan serves as a cornerstone of US economic and security influence in the region, former US Indo-Pacific Command commander admiral Phillip Davidson said on Thursday. “China’s ... strategy is to supplant the US leadership role in the international order ... and they’ve long said ... that they intend to do that by 2050,” Davidson told the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in Washington. Davidson said he had previously told US Senate hearings on China’s military activities and possible threats in the Indo-Pacific region that a Chinese invasion of
RSS