People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) has promised to establish a transitional justice committee in the Presidential Office if he is elected, beseeching voters to “let me do it.”
In a TV interview on Friday evening, Soong said he would place more importance on the issue than former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party, “guaranteeing” that he would reopen investigations into the death of democracy activist Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), the murders of veteran political activist Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) family members, the murder of navy captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) and the Lafayette frigate procurement scandal.
Chen Wen-chen, a supporter of Taiwan’s democracy movement and statistics professor at Carnegie Melon University, was found dead at National Taiwan University on July 2, 1981, after he was questioned by the then-Taiwan Garrison Command one day after returning to Taiwan to visit his family.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Lin’s mother and twin daughters were found stabbed to death at their home on Feb. 28, 1980, while he was detained on charges of insurrection after co-organizing a demonstration against the former authoritarian regime. The perpetrator and motive for the crime were never established.
Yin was murdered in 1983 after he wrote a report that exposed kickbacks related to the purchase of French Lafayette-class warships.
Soong made the remarks after guests on the TV political talk show discussed how intelligence organizations had interfered with politics in Chen Wen-chen’s case and the 1984 murder of writer Henry Liu (江南) in the US.
Regarding Chen Wen-chen’s case, Soong said it was “extremely shocking” and suspicious. The incident showed the importance of forbidding intelligence agencies from “meddling” and “messing around,” he said.
The guests responded by saying that intelligence agencies had been given a free hand because of Taiwan’s failure to realize transitional justice, asking Soong if he would be willing to set up a task force to deal with the matter if elected.
Soong vowed to establish a committee, which would also determine why Yin and Lin’s family had been killed.
At the time of Chen Wen-chen’s murder, Soong was serving as head of the now-defunct Government Information Office.
The Associated Press reporter Tina Chou (周清月) at the time claimed that Soong interfered with her reporting of the incident, culminating in the cancelation of her media credentials.
When discussing cooperation between the PFP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Soong said he “absolutely” has “complex emotions” for the rival pan-blue party from which the PFP split, adding that he strongly supports the KMT’s ideology as represented by the ideals of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) and the political path forged by former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
However, he said that in the past, PFP legislators “given” to the KMT in an attempt at cooperation were labeled as his “personal army” and subjected to “blind bullying.”
Separately, KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that despite Soong saying he “still has feelings for the KMT,” she is distressed by all the things that Soong has done after his departure from the party.
“If you love the KMT, you should not hurt it,” Hung said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-hsuan, Alison Hsiao and Abraham Gerber
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
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
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