Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) came under bipartisan criticism yesterday for failing to take immediate action against a subordinate who had allegedly written articles referring to ethnic Taiwanese as “mentally insane” and “rednecks” under the pseudonym Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽).
In a two-hour question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, Su refused to apologize for Kuo Kuan-ying’s (郭冠英) behavior, citing a lack of conclusive evidence that Kuo was the author of the defamatory articles.
“The case is now in the hands of the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries (公務人員懲戒委員會) and I must respect due process. As the GIO chief, I do not have any legal authority to dismiss him,” Su said, although he vowed to hand down the maximum penalty if Kuo were found to be responsible.
Kuo currently heads the information division at the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto. He was summoned to return to Taiwan earlier this week to offer an explanation, but he never admitted that he and Fan were the same person. He left for Toronto on Tuesday to hand over his duties to the acting head and is scheduled to return before March 31 for further investigation, Su said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), who brought the case to light last week, accused Su of lying and dodging responsibility, saying that under the Act on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務人員懲戒法), a GIO chief is authorized to dismiss a GIO official who purposely sullies the country’s image.
Kuan said Su failed to review all the evidence her office had provided against Kuo and demanded the disciplinary committee reconvene based on additional evidence.
Calling Su by his first name and referring to him as a “child,” Kuan said: “Mama Kuan watched you grow up and I am sorely disappointed you have comprised your integrity now that you have become a government official.”
Su replied: “Please do not discriminate against people because of their age.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Chia-ching (李嘉進) repeatedly pressed Su for an apology, saying that Su’s unwillingness to immediately administer demerits showed that the GIO and the administration was tolerant of such prejudicial rhetoric and should be held accountable for stirring up ethnic tension.
Su, however, refused to apologize, saying he had to respect the system and that firing Kuo was outside of his authority.
In related news, the GIO yesterday promised to look into a legislator’s allegations that the China Daily, an English-language newspaper from China that is distributed for free on many college campuses, contained “unification warfare” language.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) demanded that the GIO immediately revoke the China Daily’s license in Taiwan for publishing rhetoric prohibited by law.
GIO Vice Minister George Hsu (許秋煌) said the China Daily is a Hong Kong-registered newspaper and was granted a one-year distribution last July after passing the GIO’s application process.
Also See: EDITORIAL: Mild words, grave issue
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