President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday threw his support behind beleaguered Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), while likening his former deputy minister, Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), to a “pest” in cross-strait ties.
Legislators across party lines have called on Wang to step down for his “ham-fisted” handling of Chang’s case, who has been accused of leaking state secrets and forced to resign.
The president yesterday voiced his approval of Wang’s actions, saying: “There is no need for him to resign.”
Photo: CNA
“It was Wang who took the initiative to investigate Chang after [being tipped off about a possible information leak]. He made decisions swiftly and cooperated with prosecutors,” Ma said.
“He also held a press conference that lasted for 70 minutes. It is pretty rare for a government, with respect to this kind of events, to spend so much time explaining,” the president said.
Stressing the importance of cross-strait relations, the president compared it to a tree that has to be nurtured, while implying that Chang was a pest that could ruin the relationship.
“For a sapling to grow, you need a gardener to water and fertilize it, and when pests are found, the gardener has to get rid of them,” he said.
“The development of cross-strait relations cannot be allowed to stall because of a pest, and we cannot ignore it [the pest] once it has been found,” Ma said, adding that Chang’s case would not affect progress in cross-strait exchanges.
Responding to Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) call for him to apologize and for national security officials to be held accountable, Ma said that Tsai was “confused about [the issue] and reversing the procedure.”
“As Chang is only suspected [of leaking information] rather than having been convicted, we need to adhere to the principle of presumption of innocence,” Ma said. “It is strange to ask for someone’s apology or demand that they admit to certain mistakes when the result has not yet been determined.”
Ma denied that the case involves any political infighting within the administration.
“How could we target him, our own colleague? However, if he committed a crime, we cannot conceal it either,” he said.
When asked about the prospect of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) following this incident, Ma said his positive attitude toward the meeting, if certain preconditions are met, has not changed.
“As for [Chang’s] case, I think in the end it will be clear to everybody that it has nothing to do with the Ma-Xi meeting,” he said.
Responding to Ma’s statement, DPP spokesman Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said it showed a “lack of self-reflection.”
“Apologizing for [his administration’s handling of] Chang’s case is the president’s political responsibility, whereas the principle of presumption of innocence is a notion of legal responsibility. Ma conflated the two and used the latter as a political pretext for refusing to apologize,” Huang said. “This amounts to ignorance of democratic constitutionalism.”
Moreover, comparing Chang to a pest, based on the president’s political logic of presumption of innocence, “would then constitute deliberate humiliation,” Huang said.
“The absurdity of Ma’s logic is eye-opening,” he said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS