On International Women’s Day this year, the Court of the Judiciary gave a ridiculous gift to all Taiwanese women by ruling that former Taipei High Administrative Court judge Chen Hung-pin (陳鴻斌), who was convicted of sexually harassing his female assistant, is suitable for his job.
The court argued in its controversial ruling that Chen had already expressed regret by trying to introduce a potential boyfriend to the victim.
In its decisions on whether sexual harassment affects a harasser’s job suitability, the judicial system is clearly setting a double standard, as it is lenient with itself and strict with others.
In dismissing teachers convicted of harassment, the court strictly rules that teachers should never harass students, and that teachers who harass students are unsuitable for their jobs due to the abuse of power involved.
There was also a power differential between the judge and his assistant, but the court believed that the judge is still suitable for his job after harassing the assistant.
In this case, the Court of the Judiciary said that only three of the eight cited incidents of misconduct constituted sexual harassment: kissing and hugging the assistant, banning her from going out with male friends and not allowing her to leave the office by holding the door closed.
The verdict said that Chen, who had a clean record, had always been an upstanding judge, and that conditions for his disqualification did not exist. As for his three acts of misconduct, they do not disqualify him from serving as judge.
However, the court demonstrated a double standard in a similar trial involving a teacher.
The Supreme Administrative Court in 2011 issued Ruling No. 2,123, which said that the appellant, who was a high-school teacher, should be removed from the school due to sexual harassment.
As described in the verdict, a student who sat on a sofa watching a DVD was approached by the teacher, who slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. The student felt uncomfortable and pushed his hands away, saying that she wanted to go home. When they went to the garage together, he hugged her one more time as she got into the car.
The court said that as the teacher was the student’s “homeroom teacher,” there was a power differential between them.
He later confessed his misconduct and expressed regret, but the court ruled that as he lacked “gender respect,” he might harass other students if he were allowed to continue teaching, and therefore posed a serious threat to campus safety. As a result, the court ruled that the teacher be dismissed.
Both the teacher and the judge kissed and touched the victims inappropriately and were repentant afterward. However, the court ruled that the judge was suitable for his job, while the teacher was not. What makes the rulings more questionable is that both were rendered by presiding judge Lin Wen-chou (林文舟).
Is the standard for a judge’s suitability for his job lower than that for a high-school teacher? Or do Taiwan’s judges have a special privilege to sexually harass others?
Huang Di-ying is a lawyer.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Elbridge Colby, America’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, is the most influential voice on defense strategy in the Second Trump Administration. For insight into his thinking, one could do no better than read his thoughts on the defense of Taiwan which he gathered in a book he wrote in 2021. The Strategy of Denial, is his contemplation of China’s rising hegemony in Asia and on how to deter China from invading Taiwan. Allowing China to absorb Taiwan, he wrote, would open the entire Indo-Pacific region to Chinese preeminence and result in a power transition that would place America’s prosperity
When Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) first suggested a mass recall of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, the Taipei Times called the idea “not only absurd, but also deeply undemocratic” (“Lai’s speech and legislative chaos,” Jan. 6, page 8). In a subsequent editorial (“Recall chaos plays into KMT hands,” Jan. 9, page 8), the paper wrote that his suggestion was not a solution, and that if it failed, it would exacerbate the enmity between the parties and lead to a cascade of revenge recalls. The danger came from having the DPP orchestrate a mass recall. As it transpired,
A few weeks ago in Kaohsiung, tech mogul turned political pundit Robert Tsao (曹興誠) joined Western Washington University professor Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮) for a public forum in support of Taiwan’s recall campaign. Kaohsiung, already the most Taiwanese independence-minded city in Taiwan, was not in need of a recall. So Chen took a different approach: He made the case that unification with China would be too expensive to work. The argument was unusual. Most of the time, we hear that Taiwan should remain free out of respect for democracy and self-determination, but cost? That is not part of the usual script, and
All 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), formerly of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), survived recall elections against them on Saturday, in a massive loss to the unprecedented mass recall movement, as well as to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that backed it. The outcome has surprised many, as most analysts expected that at least a few legislators would be ousted. Over the past few months, dedicated and passionate civic groups gathered more than 1 million signatures to recall KMT lawmakers, an extraordinary achievement that many believed would be enough to remove at