The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lodged a complaint against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, claiming the former president’s petition last month asking the US to view him as “an agent in Taiwan for the US military government” constituted treason, among other crimes.
The KMT caucus was referring to Chen’s temporary endorsement of a lawsuit activist Roger Lin (林志昇) filed in a Washington district court to rule on the nationality of the people of Taiwan. Lin wanted the court to decide what rights Taiwanese have under the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the US Constitution.
Calling Chen a “bastard son [龜兒子] of Uncle Sam,” KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the former president should have defended the sovereignty of the Republic of China instead of “showing his loyalty to the US government.”
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lu urged prosecutors to investigate the KMT’s claim that Chen committed an “offense against the external security of the state (外患罪)” as soon as possible.
Prior to lodging the complaint with prosecutors, Lu held a press conference at the legislature, where he accused Chen of violating the Constitution.
Lu added that the KMT caucus would take steps to demand that Chen return the salary he received during his eight years as president.
The KMT lawmaker said he would also propose amending the Act Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) during the current legislative session to revoke the rights and benefits to which Chen is currently entitled as a former president.
In the petition Lin filed with the Washington district court in 2006, he argued that the San Francisco Peace Treaty did not address sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu, and that the US was therefore still the territory’s principal occupying power. The court dismissed the case, saying it lacked jurisdiction over political matters.
When the US Court of Appeals in Washington upheld the district court’s ruling in April, Lin appealed to the US Supreme Court, which declined to hear Lin’s case earlier this month.
In Lin’s appeal to the US Supreme Court on July 8, Chen signed an affidavit in support of the lawsuit, saying that he would like to clarify in court the relationship between “the people of Taiwan (not the ‘exiled Chinese’ on Taiwan) and the United States.”
In the affidavit, written in English, Chen said that the US has been the “principal occupying power” of Taiwan and that Washington has considered him the head of the “Taiwan governing authorities.”
“Based on this rationale, during my term of office, I accepted the instructions of the Chairmen of the American Institute in Taiwan on many occasions, even when their instructions interfered with my Presidential decision making,” he said in the statement.
Chen’s office issued a statement on Tuesday expressing Chen’s regret over the connection between the former president and Lin’s lawsuit, adding that he only endorsed it to help clear up the US’ position on Taiwan’s status and its Taiwan policy.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHELLEY HUANG
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS