The decision of Switzerland's supreme court to release documents relating to the Lafayette-class frigate scandal is a minor victory for investigators looking into the 12-year-old case, which has been stymied because of a lack of evidence and witnesses.
It is also a victory for Taiwan in foreign relations, as it is another example of how creative thinking and a pragmatic approach can overcome the debilitating effect of the lack of diplomatic ties with most countries.
Most importantly, it offers a glimmer of hope -- however slight -- that the truth behind the murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (
It has been nearly a dozen years since Yin's body was found floating off Suao on Dec. 10, 1993. He disappeared two days after making secret recordings of conversations with three people believed to have taken -- and who helped to distribute -- millions of dollars in bribes to facilitate procurement of the ships from French firm Thomson-CSF (now called Thales).
Since that time, only a handful of marginal figures in the case have been charged with any crime, and even fewer have been sent to jail. This is despite the admission by former French foreign minister Roland Dumas that key figures in the ruling party at the time -- the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- received kickbacks to facilitate the deal. Senior politicians, including former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), have been accused of possible involvement in the scandal, but their roles have never been satisfactorily examined.
The lack of progress in the Lafayette frigate scandal has left an indelible stain on the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Justice. The allegations of widespread corruption, the appearance of a cover-up and the suspected murders of both French and Taiwanese officials in connection with the case are details more suitable for a dimestore novel than an arms-procurement deal.
More sadly, the case is one more example of the culture of graft that exists among local bureaucrats and politicians. Hardly a month passes in which some senior official -- from the pan-blue or the pan-green camp -- is not charged with involvement in some bribery scandal. The furor surrounding the Kaohsiung MRT is only the most prominent recent example.
On the brighter side, the investigation into the Lafayette scandal has given the public the opportunity to witness the often pedestrian cooperation between Taiwanese law enforcement agencies and their overseas counterparts. Even NASA took part in the probe, helping to piece together one of the recordings made by Yin before his death, which had been "mysteriously" erased while in the possession of military prosecutors.
In any event, finding the origin and tracing the movements of the more than US$500 million frozen in 46 Swiss bank accounts belonging to fugitive arms dealer Andrew Wang (
Yin's killer -- or killers -- have managed to elude justice until now, but the dogged persistence of officials and diplomats may yet crack this case.
These efforts should be applauded, and their importance acknowledged. For until the culture of corruption and the "black gold" practices of the KMT are brought to heel, Taiwan's miraculous democratization will all be for nought.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
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