A ruling by the Taiwan High Court last week, in which former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was found not guilty of misusing his special state affairs fund, inadvertently revealed secret diplomatic efforts by Taipei as it explained in detail how Chen spent state affairs funds to promote relations with other countries.
PRIME MINISTERS
The ruling said that Taipei in the 1990s lobbied former Japanese prime ministers Ryutaro Hashimoto and Junichiro Koizumi to support Taiwan’s efforts to attend the WTO Ministerial Conference on Agriculture — efforts that succeeded in the long run.
The Taiwan High Court on Friday rescinded previous rulings and found Chen and former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) not guilty of corruption, in a retrial of their state affairs fund case.
STATE AFFAIRS
The court said it acquitted Chen of corruption in the case because he had spent more than the funds he received during his terms in office and spent all the money on state affairs.
These included 21 secret diplomacy programs and bonuses to his staff.
In order not to leak national secrets in the ruling, the court used codes to represent Taiwan’s secret diplomatic activities.
These included an invitation by Taiwan to an aide on public policy of former US president Bill Clinton, referred to as “M,” to visit Taiwan; an “S” program to smooth and maintain Taiwan-US communication channels; an “F” program to lobby US government officials on a regular basis; an “L” program to fund the campaign of a member of the US Congress, and “F” and “J” programs to promote diplomatic ties with Fiji and Japan respectively.
DISSIDENTS
The ruling revealed that Chen also funded two Chinese dissidents, whose names were not mentioned in the ruling.
The ruling further said that the National Security Bureau under former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) launched program “S” to strengthen unofficial cooperation channels between Taiwan, Japan and the US and handed more than NT$2.7 million annually to a Taiwanese operative who was familiar with Japanese politicians friendly to Taiwan.
COMMUNICATION
It said that the Taiwanese man had kept in touch with then-Japanese heavyweight senator Shiina Motoo, who maintained communication channels between Japan, Taiwan and the US.
The ruling added that in 2000, Chen paid NT$2 million from his state affairs fund to keep the program alive.
The ruling continued that during the Universal Exposition in Tokyo in 2006, Taiwan sought and won more than 50 exhibitions through diplomatic work with Japan.
HELP GIVEN
Furthermore, when the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna planned to cancel Taipei’s cooperating non-member status because Taiwan was considered to be catching tuna over its quota limit, Taipei asked Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, then Japanese vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, for help.
Miyakoshi stepped in and after intensive lobbying to the convention, the country was able to keep its cooperating non-member status.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS