Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐) said yesterday that China is interrogating hundreds of Taiwanese businesspeople based in "sensitive areas," including places near Chinese military bases.
China's interrogation and detention of the businesspeople before it obtained proper evidence of the men's alleged crimes were detrimental to the men's human rights, Shi said.
Shi, however, declined to confirm whether China's large-scale crackdown on the suspect Taiwanese intelligence-gathering operations in China had started after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) unveiled the locations of China's 496 missiles pointing at Taiwan.
Noting that Taiwan understands that China's justice system is different from Taiwan's, Shi nonetheless said that the government here hoped China could follow democratic countries' judicial procedures in trying the Taiwanese businesspeople.
The government yesterday asked China to allow a team of Taiwanese lawyers to go to China to represent Taiwanese businesspeople Beijing arrested on charges of espionage.
The Mainland Affairs Council and the foundation expressed serious concerns over what they called China's manipulation of judicial procedures in trying the Taiwanese businesspeople it alleges are "spies."
The foundation sent a letter to its Chinese counterpart the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait yesterday protesting against Beijing's arrangement of media interviews on Friday with eight Taiwanese businesspeople detained on charges of espionage.
Condemning such interviews as damaging to the detainees' human rights, Yen Wan-ching (
Some of the detainees vented their anger at Chen and his government for doing nothing to rescue them following their arrests and said they regretted collecting intelligence for Taiwan.
However, according to MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
Suspecting that the Taiwanese businesspeople's testimonies during their media interviews were scripted by China, Chen Ming-tong said Beijing's treatment of these men reminded him of China's inhuman trials of prisoners in the 19th century. He did not say what trials he was referring to.
The cross-strait foundation has asked for the its Chinese counterparts help to allow a team of Taiwanese lawyers to accompany the Taiwanese businesspeople's families to China to participate in the judicial inquiries.
The departure date for the team of lawyers remained undecided, said the foundation, which has formed a task force to handle cases of the so-called "Taiwanese spies."
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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