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Editorial: Evading justice, Chinese style

When a wealthy, politically well-connected businessman pulls a scam worthy of a street hustler and flees with the cash to China we shouldn't be surprised.

After all, would-be white-collar criminals can be excused for expecting that they can act with impunity because, by and large -- if they can make it to China -- they can. Although petty criminals and violent thugs stand a fairly good chance of getting deported by the Chinese authorities, you will never see a wealthy man in shackles on the slow boat from Zhuhai to Kinmen.

So, for a morally bereft Good Old Boy like Rebar Asia Pacific Group chairman Wang You-theng (王又曾), who emerged from the ranks of the corrupt fraternity of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), there is no debate between being responsible for your bad choices or taking the easy way out.

Why be subjected to legal proceedings in Taiwan, when you can while away your days in luxury in a Shanghai hotel under the beneficent protection of a local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official, whom you've paid off?

China loves to play up its anti-corruption campaigns because that is the only way it can keep its massive dirt-poor, kicked-around population from outright revolt. Everyone in China knows how crooked their local leaders are, so the central government has to make a big show of cracking down on graft periodically to retain the people's goodwill.

But there is something interesting in this. When a Chinese official or businessperson embezzles a substantial sum, he flees to Canada, the US, Australia or Europe, and then tries to claim political refugee status. Otherwise, they know they'll be sent back to China and shot.

But when Taiwanese politicians and businesspeople run off with the cashbox, they head straight for China. And why not? They will be welcomed with open arms in a country where they likely speak the language, knowing they will never have to face the music back home. If Taiwanese authorities make a fuss, then they just have to grease a few CCP wheels to keep the champagne flowing.

If the fugitive gets really lucky, he or she will be adopted by the CCP and used for political purposes, like Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪). The former Tuntex Group chairman, after stealing NT$800 million (US$24.42 million) from his firm, spent the better part of a year trying to undermine Taiwan's democratically elected government with sensational faxes to media organizations alleging all kinds of malfeasance by the president.

No doubt he was compelled by his deep sense of moral duty to his homeland, which is why he refuses to return to it and answer the legal charges against him.

Let's not forget former Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄). Chu, who was also president of the An Feng Group, was convicted for his role in the theft of NT$22.7 billion from his firm. In an act of blithering incompetence (or brazen corruption), prosecutors allowed him to wander free on NT$5 million bail for two months before he was to report to jail to serve his sentence. Needless to say, he never showed up for his date with the jailer and his last known stop was -- take a guess -- China.

Taiwan, although not a generally recognized member of the international community, is no rogue state. So it isn't likely that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is going to order the National Security Bureau (NSB) to find "extra-legal means" of bringing all of these criminals to justice.

Still, one can be forgiven for having immoral thoughts, such as hoping Wang You-theng will be whisked out of Shanghai, "CIA rendition" style, by a group of NSB agents.

At least it's more ethical than hoping he is soon found floating face down in the Huangpu River.
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