Following the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office’s decision to indict Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) on Friday on charges of leaking classified information, the Taiwan Bar Association and other prosecutors yesterday called on Huang to step down immediately.
Huang was accused of violating the Criminal Code and the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) when he met with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Aug. 31 and the next day to present the president with information on a case of alleged improper lobbying involving Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) that led to what was called the “September strife” between Ma and Wang.
The association said in a press release that it felt that Huang was “no longer fit to be prosecutor-general after violating the confidentiality of an ongoing investigation and interfering with the independence of the judiciary.”
Photo: CNA
Among the 39 members of the 46-seat board of directors and supervisors, 21 supported issuing the statement to express the association’s stance on Huang’s case, association chairman Lin Kuo-ming (林國明) said. As the nation’s top prosecutor, Huang supervises all the nation’s prosecutors, including the Special Investigation Division (SID), Lin said.
“Can prosecutors bring charges against Huang without fear if Huang, as a defendant, appears in court in the capacity of prosecutor-general? This is what worries us,” Lin said.
Other prosecutors had also left posts on an online site for prosecutors, with one saying: “How can prosecutors not be angry when the president blatantly taps the secret-spilling SID [for information]? The SID should be abolished.”
Others said that they were sad to see that the SID, a brainchild of prosecutors originally conceived to combat illegal activities of high-ranked government officials, had instead become a tool for the president to fight his political battles, adding that if the prosecutor-general has to report to the president, the SID should be abolished.
“If [Huang] took the transcription of a witness of an ongoing criminal investigation and surveillance data to the president before the case was closed, would that not constitute a breach of investigation confidentiality? Does that not count as disclosing secrets? If the entire case was under investigation as an administrative case, why were methods reserved for criminal investigations only used?” one wrote.
The post refers to the SID’s recommendation that the improper influence case should be treated as an administrative case when it had closed the investigation.
Former Democratic Progressive Party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the Ministry of Justice should be fully aware of how severe the incident was, adding that the credibility of the judiciary and the public’s trust in it hinged on the case. The ministry should suspend Huang until the court reaches a verdict, Tsai said.
Separately, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said the prosecutor-general should have the wisdom to take responsibility for his actions.
However, former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) defended Huang as a dedicated prosecutor with a sense of justice. On his Facebook page, Lo shared an article written by Huang’s deceased daughter Huang Yi-chun (黃宜君). In the article titled “My father’s business card,” she described her father as a hard-working man with integrity, and said fighting injustice has been his top priority.
Lo posted a fable about a monk who journeyed in search of a magic sword to kill an evil spirit for a small town. The monk found the sword and returned to the town, only to be tied up and burned to death because he stepped into the town gate with the wrong foot.
“[The monk] has defended justice all his life, but ended up being brought to an open trial and being indicted. It’s one of the most ridiculous things in the world,” he wrote.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from