Today the Taiwan High Court begins its hearing of a lawsuit filed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) against President Chen Shui-bian (
However, the question of who should pay the enormous costs associated with the judicial recount remains unsettled. Since the dispute is being handled through existing legal mechanisms, the answer to that question should of course have a legal and judicial basis.
It is not surprising that the KMT-People First Party (PFP) alliance is asking that the government pay the costs -- which are estimated to approach several hundred million NT dollars. This is because the recount is going to be an enormous project in which all 1,600 judges in the country as well as countless others will have to work intensely so the job can be finished in one day.
While it is unlikely that the KMT can't afford the bill -- it is still the richest political party on earth -- the KMT is of course reluctant to admit that it can pay, considering that during the campaign Chen proposed forcing it to return to the government and the people the money it embezzled.
But an even more important question is this: Is it right to have the government pay for this?
The Judicial Yuan doesn't think so. Judicial Yuan Civil Department Director Yang Lung-shun (
The most obvious rationale for this is to prevent frivolous lawsuits which could place undue burdens on the judicial system and waste judicial resources. Facing the possibility of having to pay expensive bills upon losing a lawsuit, plaintiffs will only seek a judicial remedy if they genuinely believe based on the evidence that their charges against the defendant can withstand judicial examination -- that is, if the defendant really did what the plaintiffs accuse him or her of doing.
Hasn't the KMT-PFP alliance said that it has received hundreds of tips from the public, along with loads of other evidence, indicating that the Democratic Progressive Party illegally tampered with the election and that the pan-blue camp is confident of winning the lawsuit? If all that is true, what is there for the KMT and PFP to fear?
Besides, the Judicial Yuan's ruling is a knife that could cut both ways -- meaning the DPP will have to pick up the tab if it loses the recount.
Could it be that the KMT-PFP alliance is not at all sure of the merits of its lawsuit? Is it possible that the pan-blue camp realizes that the DPP's extremely small winning margin -- 0.228 percent -- does not indicate any wrongdoing by the DPP, but rather that the nation simply had a very close election?
Finally, the KMT-PFP alliance should be reminded that at least 50 percent of the population -- namely, those who voted for Chen -- believe that the president has done nothing illegal. Is it fair to ask them to pay for the judicial recount?
Taiwan has lost Trump. Or so a former State Department official and lobbyist would have us believe. Writing for online outlet Domino Theory in an article titled “How Taiwan lost Trump,” Christian Whiton provides a litany of reasons that the William Lai (賴清德) and Donald Trump administrations have supposedly fallen out — and it’s all Lai’s fault. Although many of Whiton’s claims are misleading or ill-informed, the article is helpfully, if unintentionally, revealing of a key aspect of the MAGA worldview. Whiton complains of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “inability to understand and relate to the New Right in America.” Many
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month raised its travel alert for China’s Guangdong Province to Level 2 “Alert,” advising travelers to take enhanced precautions amid a chikungunya outbreak in the region. More than 8,000 cases have been reported in the province since June. Chikungunya is caused by the chikungunya virus and transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These species thrive in warm, humid climates and are also major vectors for dengue, Zika and yellow fever. The disease is characterized by high fever and severe, often incapacitating joint pain.
In nature, there is a group of insects known as parasitoid wasps. Their reproductive process differs entirely from that of ordinary wasps — the female lays her eggs inside or on the bodies of other insects, and, once hatched, the larvae feed on the host’s body. The larvae do not kill the host insect immediately; instead, they carefully avoid vital organs, allowing the host to stay alive until the larvae are fully mature. That living reservoir strategy ensures a stable and fresh source of nutrients for the larvae as they grow. However, the host’s death becomes only a matter of time. The resemblance
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
RSS