Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and several independence supporters filed a treason lawsuit against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday, alleging that recent acts by Ma constituted “offenses against the external security of state.”
“Article 104 of the Criminal Code stipulates that anyone who collaborates with a foreign national or a foreign envoy to have the Republic of China [ROC] annexed by other countries has committed a crime punishable by death or a lifetime jail sentence,” Chen told a press conference in Taipei.
“[Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman] Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and other Chinese leaders have repeatedly stated their intention to take Taiwan by force and through ‘peaceful means,’ and therefore we suspect that Ma’s meeting with Chen Yunlin constitutes collaboration,” he said.
While the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) was anti-communist, the Ma administration is “afraid of China, pro-China and surrendering to China,” Chen Shui-bian said.
He also cited recent comments by Ma as evidence of Ma’s “illegal intentions.”
Ma said in an interview with the Mexican newspaper El Sol de Mexico that relations between Taiwan and China were not state-to-state but “region-to-region” relations.
Earlier, he said that the Taiwanese and Chinese are not different in terms of nationality but in where their home addresses are registered.
“According to the law, even if Ma hasn’t [successfully] committed the crime, an attempt is enough to convict him,” Chen Shui-bian said.
“Taiwan and China are, of course, in a hostile relationship — China now has more than 1,000 missiles pointing at Taiwan and, according to the Constitution, mainland China, currently occupied by the Chinese Communist Party regime, is part of our traditional territory,” said Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor-in-chief of Contemporary Magazine and a political commentator. “Ma is committing treason [by meeting Chen Yunlin].”
When asked to comment on the lawsuit during a question-and-answer session at the legislature yesterday, Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said that “each individual case will be reviewed by the prosecutor,” but added “I’d say it’s just political talk.”
The Presidential Office declined to comment on the lawsuit filed against Ma.
However, the Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement accusing the former president of hypocrisy.
Although the former president is accusing Ma of colluding with the enemy by meeting Chen Yunlin, Chen Shui-bian invited then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) to have tea when Chen Shui-bian visited Kinmen in 2002, it said.
When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) dismissed the lawsuit as “groundless” and said the public would never support Chen Shui-bian’s allegations.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that if the former president’s reasoning were solid, then 37,000 Taiwanese enterprises investing in China should also be charged with treason.
“Should they be arrested as well?” Lee asked.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING, FLORA WANG AND CNA
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