In an effort to improve his reputation abroad, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) sent a legislator, a police bureaucrat and a justice ministry official to Washington on Monday to argue that recent charges of Taiwanese police brutality were a “misunderstanding.”
After making a 90-minute presentation at the Heritage Foundation — a conservative think tank — the team moved on to the US Congress to distribute a statement denying that police were anything other than victims in the protests against Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin's (陳雲林) visit last month.
“The idea of political persecution, the idea that President Ma is using the law as a tool to get even with or to punish members of the previous government is a complete misunderstanding,” said Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), the chair of the legislature's Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
The statement, bound in a yellow plastic folder and containing 17 color photographs showing police under attack by protesters — and one color picture of a small girl handing a rose to a police officer under the guidance of an adult — were prepared by the National Police Agency and the Ministry of the Interior.
It said that 150 police officers had been injured — compared with just 30 protesters and reporters — and that protesters had hurled Molotov cocktails, stones and human waste at the police.
It denied that police had stopped protesters from waving Republic of China or Tibetan flags or that they closed down a record store playing patriotic Taiwanese music.
The statement further said that on the day before Chen's arrival in Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians were offering cash prizes to anyone who succeeded in hitting him with an egg.
The prize offer was in fact made by the Northern Taiwan Society civic group.
“Freedom of expression is very strongly protected in Taiwan,” the statement said.
It said that creating an independent commission to investigate the clashes was unnecessary and inappropriate. But the report conceded that “the police should be required to further improve their technique for crowd control.”
In conclusion, the report said: “Our police have shown great restraint in dealing with demonstrations.”
Later, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs — a non-profit group supporting Taiwan's independence — said that between 200 and 300 protesters were injured during Chen's visit, that no DPP politician had offered cash for throwing eggs at Chen and that there was strong evidence of police acting violently against peaceful protesters.
In the case of the record shop, it said that video footage showed police officers forcing the shop owner to close the shop by lowering the shutters.
Last month, 18 Taiwanese-American organizations released a statement saying they were “outraged” by the actions of the Ma administration in quashing mass protests during Chen's visit.
“Taiwan has seemed to revert to the days of Martial Law where there was no freedom of speech, no personal liberties, no freedom of association but only the confrontation between the police force and public,” the statement said.
During the presentation at Heritage, Hsieh, National Police Agency Senior Executive Officer John Chu (曲來足) and Ministry of Justice Counselor Chin Jeng-shyang (覃正祥) were peppered with questions that cast doubt on their version of events, as well as a complaint regarding selective use of photographic evidence.
In what appeared to be an attempt to justify the actions of police during Chen's visit, Hsieh said he had lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and “I know what police brutality is and Taiwan does not have a police brutality issue.”
In his introductory remarks, and like Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) before him, Hsieh said several times that former president Chen Shui-bian had been charged prior to his arrest. In fact Chen has been detained without charge. Hsieh seemed confused about the detention and prosecutorial process, claiming a distinction between being charged and being indicted. When asked to explain the difference, he provided no answer.
He said that Ma had resisted attempts by his “true, loyal supporters” to interfere in the judicial system, and that the president “might have the power to tamper with” the judicial system but chose not to.
Hsieh also said the Egmont Group's report of data that pointed to Taiwanese money-laundering involved “Chen Shui-bian's family's money-lending activity around the world.”
This has yet to be determined by a court.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS