Two important Taiwan experts based in Washington have added their names to the open letter published in the Taipei Times earlier this week expressing concern about what they see as an erosion of justice in Taiwan.
The new signatories are former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver and George Washington University academic Michael Yahuda.
In the original letter a group of international academics and writers urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to order an independent inquiry into the way police squashed protests during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
The letter said: “The establishment of a scrupulously neutral commission is essential if there is to be a fair and objective conclusion on the disturbances that occurred during the Chen Yunlin visit.”
Freedom House, Amnesty International and US professor Jerome Cohen have also strongly recommended an independent inquiry.
At the same time, the group has expressed concern about the legal proceedings in the case of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and political pressure from KMT members of the Legislative Yuan that preceded a switch from a three-judge panel that had released the former president on his own cognizance to a court that subsequently detained him again.
The letter said there had been a “widespread pattern of leaks to the media regarding ongoing cases — leaks, which because of their content and nature can only have come from the prosecutors’ offices.”
It mentioned a recent skit in which some prosecutors involved in Chen’s case poked fun at the former president.
“This pattern of behavior displays a distinct bias in the judicial system and a disregard for fair and impartial processes,” it said.
It concluded by again urging Ma “to ensure that your government and its judiciary and parliamentary institutions safeguard the full democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.”
In an article published this week in its Taiwan Communique, the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs said the last few months had seen a further erosion of human rights and democracy in Taiwan.
It said the downward slide started in mid-October with the arrest and detention of former and present officials of the Democratic Progressive Party administration and worsened with aggressive police behavior during the Chen Yunlin visit in early November.
“Both developments were reminiscent of Taiwan’s police state under the Kuomintang’s [KMT] martial law, which lasted from 1947 until 1987,” the article said.
It quoted Cohen, who was Ma’s law professor at Harvard, as saying that the recent court proceedings against Chen Shui-bian “mocked the promise” of fairness.
“At what point does the presumption of innocence become meaningless and the pre-conviction detention morph into punishment for a crime not finally proved?” Cohen asked.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS