US Representative Steve Chabot is urging Washington to become directly involved in the case of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), asking US Secretary of State John Kerry to pressure Taipei into granting Chen permanent medical parole.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice granted Chen 30 days of medical parole amid reports that his health was failing fast. The parole was extended earlier this month.
Chen, 64, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of corruption.
Kerry on Wednesday appeared before the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to answer questions about the US Department of State’s budget for next year.
Chabot said that he had visited Chen in prison last year and found him to be suffering from “a whole range” of medical conditions, including severe depression, Parkinson’s disease and the effects of multiple strokes.
Chabot said that together with former non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives Eni Faleomavaega, he had “beseeched” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to grant his predecessor medical parole.
Chen was released for 30 days of medical parole last month, but Chabot told Kerry that it was not enough.
Chabot said that unless there was some new health setback, Chen would probably be taken back to prison soon.
“His condition was just startling,” Chabot said. “I would urge you to look at the case.”
Chabot said that while the Chen case might be considered an “internal problem” for Taiwan, there could still be a US role.
He said that while China would not admit it, Taiwan was a de facto country and “for the most part,” the US considered that to be the case.
“You can’t tell them what to do,” Chabot said.
However, he urged US President Barack Obama’s administration to “look at this matter, to the extent that we can exercise some reason on the Taiwanese government.”
Chabot said that the medical parole should be made permanent and that Chen should be allowed to stay at home under the care of his family.
Answering Chabot’s plea to consider the situation, Kerry replied: “Will do.”
The committee ran out of time before members could ask Kerry all of the questions they had prepared. As a result, Kerry agreed to answer questions submitted in writing.
Committee sources said it was likely that some of the questions — to be sent to the Department of State over the next few days — would concern Taiwan. They said that some members may ask written questions about Taiwan’s security, strategic importance, self-defense and lack of international space.
At least one representative had planned to ask Kerry about the risks of cross-strait economic integration.
‘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