Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), alleging that it was creating social confrontation by amending laws that revoke perks enjoyed by the former head of the state.
“It’s reprisal legislation directed against my father and it violates the basic principle of law — that one is innocent until proven guilty,” Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) told a press conference.
The legislature on Thursday passed an amendment to the Act Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) introduced by the KMT caucus.
The amendment stipulates that former presidents and vice presidents will be stripped of courtesy treatment, including their monthly allowance and annual expenses, if convicted by a court of grave offenses, such as sedition and graft. The number of bodyguards assigned to former presidents and vice presidents who are convicted of corruption in a first trial will also be reduced.
This means that once the amendment takes effect within the next 20 days, Chen Shui-bian, who was found guilty of embezzlement in his first trial last year, will lose a monthly preferential payment of NT$250,000 (US$7,825) and his NT$6 million annual subsidy for administrative affairs. His bodyguards will be reduced to two.
Describing the amendment as revenge targeting his father, Chen Chih-chung, who is running in November’s Greater Kaohsiung councilor election, urged voters to join him in opposing the KMT.
Chen Chih-chung said the amended law would cause economic difficulties for the former first family. Without the administrative subsidy, his father’s office would be forced to shut down, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) also challenged the KMT over the amendment, saying the move would deepen confrontation between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
“Politicized and controversial legislation will deepen social and political confrontations. The government should avoid such divides,” Su said.
Chen was sentenced to life in prison in September last year by the Taipei District Court on multiple counts of corruption. In June, the Taiwan High Court cut his jail term to 20 years.
According to the amended law, his benefits would be restored if he is cleared by the Supreme Court in a final verdict on the case.
Chen Shui-bian has blasted his trial as a vendetta carried out by the KMT administration in retaliation for his pro-independence stance during his 2000 to 2008 presidential term.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS