Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) manipulation of the Yu Chang Biologics Co case has hurt Taiwan’s democratic development and added that the party’s collaboration with the media on the case during the presidential campaign was “vicious.”
The KMT government’s misconduct and the negative impact of the alleged case on Taiwan’s biotechnology industry were what really concerned her, Tsai said on the sidelines of a workshop on Taiwan’s economy organized by her foundation.
Tsai said her political team had thoroughly reviewed the Yu Chang case and were reassured that she had not been involved in illegal conduct, adding that “the important thing was not if I had been treated fairly, but that KMT manipulation damaged Taiwan’s democracy.”
Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) on Tuesday closed its investigation into Yu Chang Biologics Co, now known as TaiMed Biologics Inc, clearing Tsai of any wrongdoing in the case which many believe helped President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) beat Tsai in the January presidential election.
Tsai said the leader of the nation had failed to do his job when he did not help the biotechonology industry develop, but instead damaged the sector with his campaign maneuverings.
While the KMT claimed it had never called the case a scandal, Tsai said the Taiwanese people had experienced the incident first-hand and understood how the party had distorted media coverage during the campaign.
Former Council of Economic Planning and Development minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times yesterday as saying that she had been asked by Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), then-premier, to launch an administrative investigation into Tsai’s conduct.
In response to the newspaper report, Tsai said it was the “most vicious practice” for the state apparatus to inappropriately use government documents — including forged documents — to discredit specific candidates.
DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) told a press conference that the Yu Chang case was a “dirty trick” Ma had used for political gain.
In response to the KMT’s statement, which said that while Tsai had been cleared of all illegal activities, she could not evade her “moral stain,” Wu said that Ma had also been cleared of all charges in a corruption case.
“I would like to know if Ma also has a ‘moral stain’ even though he was found not guilty,” Wu said, referring to the Supreme Court’s April 2008 ruling that said Ma was not guilty of misusing his special mayoral allowance during his eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor.
The DPP headquarters also offered support to Tsai yesterday, with party Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) saying after the weekly Central Standing Committee meeting that the party planned to seek justice for DPP politicians who had been persecuted by the judicial system in the past.
A working group would be established under the DPP’s Policy Research Committee to gather and analyze information of all the legal cases and prosecutions involving DPP members, including Tsai and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), in an effort to “reverse the miscarriage of justice,” Su said.
Necessary measures will be taken after all the analytical work has been done, Su said, adding that the DPP does not rule out taking legal action against those responsible.
“The DPP urges Ma and those who were involved in the manipulation of the case to apologize to Taiwan’s biotechnology industry,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
It has been the KMT’s strategy and an example of the party’s “old tricks” to resort to the abuse of state apparatus, forgery and almost anything in order to secure election victory, Lin said.
The KMT’s defamation of Tsai and Yu Chang Biologics Co, along with its past attacks on Hsuehshan Tunnel, the High Speed Rail and the Southern Taiwan Science Park — all completed under the DPP administration — also showed the KMT could only attack the DPP when it could not deliver the same performance, Lin said.
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