Washington appears to be uninformed about recent events in Taiwan, including the alleged use of excessive police force during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and the arrests of several leading Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians, DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said in Washington on Friday.
Chai told a press conference at the end of a three-day trip to Washington for talks with government officials and legislators that he met with seven members of the US Congress this week, most of whom are firm supporters of Taiwan, including Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Scott Gurret of New Jersey.
The US lawmakers said “they feel that Taiwan is a democratic government with protections for human rights,” Chai said.
However, “what I said to them [about the Chen visit and the arrests] was different from what they believed,” he said. “So they were surprised.”
As a result of his meetings, he said, the congressmen said they may want to issue a statement to express their concern to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, or make a trip to Taiwan to express their concerns directly.
Chai and fellow DPP Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) also met the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for China and Taiwan affairs, John Norris. However, they said the department would not allow them to disclose the content of those discussions.
At the press conference, Chai added his name to the growing roster of people who are asking Ma to name an independent commission to investigate police action during Chen Yunlin’s visit and the treatment of DPP officials and former officials by prosecutors and judiciary.
Chen Yunlin’s visit was opposed by many people “because the time was not ripe” for the visit, “and the government cannot simply use the police force to suppress the people,” Chai said.
John Tkacik, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank, expressed concern over the lack of an US reaction to the Ma government’s actions.
He said he was concerned that “the US is moving into a time where we are basically turning a blind eye to Taiwan.”
While stopping short of saying that Washington had withdrawn its support for Taiwan’s sovereignty, Tkacik urged the administration of US President George W. Bush to make public its views on the issue.
“The US has made private [statements] in the United Nations reaffirming that the United States does not recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan,” he said. “My concern is that the United States should say it out loud, so that everybody can hear it and not just the bureaucrats in the United Nations.”
Chen Ying, who along with Chai was injured by police action during the protests against Chen Yunlin’s visit, slammed the Ma administration for its actions.
“Why is there not freedom [in Taiwan] to listen to the music we like or express our love for Taiwan?” she said, referring to police actions silencing Taiwanese music and stripping protesters of Republic of China flags during the visit.
She also faulted the government for placing former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in handcuffs and detaining him incommunicado without charges.
“This is a violation of basic human rights,” she said. The government “should charge Chen [Shui-bian] and let him have his day in court” if it maintains that he is guilty, she said.
Under the current administration in Taipei, however, “it is impossible for him to have a fair trial,” she said.
“We do not want to see Taiwan’s hard-earned democracy jeopardized,” she said. “Under the present circumstances, we have no confidence at all in the legal system in Taiwan.”
Chen Ying also took issue with a State Department comment this week that said it was “confident” of Taiwan’s legal system and had “every expectation” that the case would be handled fairly.
“Contrary to what the State Department asserted on [Tuesday, the legal system] lacks transparency, is pertinently biased and unfair,” she said.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, which held the press conference, also circulated various statements condemning the Ma administration’s actions, including letters to Ma from the International Federation for Human Rights in Paris and the Washington-based Freedom House condemning the police violence and the arrests as violations of human rights and demanding an independent inquiry.
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