Love him or hate him, it's hard to ignore Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (
But it was hard not to laugh at him on Saturday when Chiu accused the nation's prosecutors of being "tools of the government." Strange words indeed, coming from Chiu, as no one has benefited more from the prosecutors' willingness to investigate and follow up his nonstop allegations against the government than Chiu himself.
His allegations have been instrumental in getting former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Che-nan (
Chiu should consider himself fortunate that he lives in the Taiwan of the 21st century, as just 22 years ago such accusations could have seen him suffer the same fate as Henry Liu (
So how Chiu has the effrontery to accuse prosecutors of bending to the government's will is beyond belief. If that were the case then he would probably be residing in prison right now as a result of the criminal damage he caused when he incited a riot and led a sound truck to repeatedly ram the gates of the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office following the 2004 presidential election.
Prosecutors indicted Chiu more than two years ago for his part in the damage, which was captured on film. This, combined with the fact he was serving a suspended sentence for violating the Public Officials' Election and Recall Law (
But Chiu and his patrons at TVBS -- he admitted the relationship in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post -- take advantage of Taiwan's highly partisan political atmosphere to make slanderous allegations safe in the knowledge that little, if any, action will be taken against them. Any cry of political persecution brings back painful memories for too many people in Taiwan and ensures that legislators from both sides get away scot-free when making the most outrageous allegations.
It is all very well to hold endless press conferences exposing government corruption if one has the evidence to support the allegations, but one cannot cry foul when upon investigation these allegations are found to be untrue, or as was discovered in one of the cases uncovered by Chiu, based merely on his suspicion.
Chiu is an educated man, so even he must be aware that if he continues to make serious allegations against people based on his suspicions, sooner or later he is going to be held accountable for them.
Slander may not be as serious a crime in Taiwan as in other countries but all people, no matter who they are, should have to answer for their words. Otherwise, who will compensate the prosecutors for all their wasted time and energy? It is no wonder that they have finally gotten round to indicting him.
The problem with Chiu is that his modus operandi seems to be if you throw enough mud, then eventually some of it will stick. But in most cases it doesn't. And while his role in exposing corruption must be commended, Chiu also has to realize that the more groundless accusations he makes, the less people will take notice of him.
Hasn't he heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf?
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
After declaring Iran’s military “gone,” US President Donald Trump appealed to the UK, France, Japan and South Korea — as well as China, Iran’s strategic partner — to send minesweepers and naval forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. When allies balked, the request turned into a warning: NATO would face “a very bad” future if it refused. The prevailing wisdom is that Trump faces a credibility problem: having spent years insulting allies, he finds they would not rally when he needs them. That is true, but superficial, as though a structural collapse could be caused by wounded feelings. Something
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions. Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement
RSS