In 2014, the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was rocked by the Sunflower movement protests and the growing wave of anti-nuclear demonstrations. Amid that turmoil, the night that the news was to run footage of the anti-nuclear demonstration, five people’s lives were used to regain control of the media narrative.
Teng Kuo-liang (鄧國樑) in Taipei, Liu Yen-kuo (劉炎國) in Taichung, the brothers Tu Ming-lang (杜明郎) and Tu Ming-hsiung (杜明雄) in Tainan, and Tai Wen-cheng (戴文慶) in Hualian all became pawns in a broader political strategy. Ma’s efforts were successful, as the demonstrations were overshadowed by the deaths of those five individuals that April.
In 2020, amid the rise of COVID-19, Taiwan launched a diplomatic initiative under the hashtags #TaiwanCanHelp and #TaiwanIsHelping. The campaign aimed to bolster Taiwan’s international image, yet it faced widespread dissatisfaction among the public. On April 1, 2020, while Taiwan was distributing 10 million medical masks to the EU, the Ministry of Justice executed Weng Jen-hsien (翁仁賢). It was timed deliberately on the same day as Taiwan’s humanitarian gesture, serving a clear political purpose: to divert attention away from the country’s internal challenges.
In a politically turbulent period, the government sought to shift focus, ensuring that the public was preoccupied with an execution rather than with more pressing matters. Meanwhile, the EU’s initial gratitude quickly turned to mortification, as Taiwan’s actions revealed the troubling reality behind its image.
After a five-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty, Taiwan this month executed death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), despite his case awaiting to be reopened by the prosecutor general. Huang had anticipated that his sentence would be reconsidered under extraordinary appeal, yet on Jan. 16, he was taken from his cell and executed before that process could unfold.
Why would the Ministry of Justice bypass a pending judicial decision? If Taiwan’s executions were truly about justice, the government would have ensured that due process was followed. In Huang’s case, the country’s political paralysis, caused by legislative gridlock, played a role. President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration appeared desperate to show that Taiwan’s rule of law was intact, even if that meant undermining the judicial processes that are supposed to protect the rights of its citizens.
The symbolism of Huang’s execution highlights the deep irony at the heart of today’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Its founding principles have long been rooted in democratic expansion and the promotion of human rights. Abolishing the death penalty is a crucial international norm that many organizations and countries continue to urge Taiwan to adopt. Such a move would further cement Taiwan’s place as a beacon of democratic values in the region.
In a moment when Taiwan’s democracy is under significant pressure, particularly from the policies being pushed through by the Legislative Yuan, it is reckless for the DPP to shift focus by using executions of those awaiting retrial as a political distraction.
We must remain vigilant in safeguarding Taiwan’s democracy. Every execution undermines that effort. Each one chips away at the integrity of Taiwan’s judicial process and weakens the country’s commitment to the rule of law. Now more than ever, policymakers must adhere to the constitutional process. By disregarding the Constitutional Court’s judgements, we not only erode Taiwan’s democratic structure, but also open the door for external pressures — particularly from China — to exploit Taiwan’s vulnerabilities.
Maria Wilkinson is a law student at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. She has researched and written extensively on Taiwan’s death penalty practices since 2022.
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