The National Security Bureau (NSB) has listed files on allegedly politically motivated cases as “permanently classified,” thereby denying the Transitional Justice Commission access, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said yesterday.
The Presidential Office should investigate whether the head of the NSB who approved the permanent classification of such documents abused their power, and to declassify or change the classification of the documents, he said.
During a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee to review a draft political archives act, Tuan asked commission member Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) whether it was having trouble obtaining documents from other agencies.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
While the commission has been successful for the most part, it has faced difficulty getting access to files from the NSB on 21 cases since August last year, Yeh said.
The cases included the 1980 murder of Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) mother and twin daughters while he was being detained in connection with the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident; the incident itself, which refers to the clash between security forces and protesters during a Dec. 10 pro-democracy demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌) and widespread arrests in the aftermath of the protest; and the 1981 death of Carnegie Mellon University associate professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) one day after he was questioned by Taiwan Garrison Command staff.
The bureau has only given the commission access to files on the Lin family murders, Yeh said.
It has denied access to the remaining files on account that they were “permanently classified,” he said.
Article 12 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), which allows files on sources of national security-related intelligence to remain permanently classified, does not apply to the cases mentioned by Yeh, Tuan said.
“Sources of national security-related intelligence” refers to intelligence officers who collect information on other nations, he said.
Giving a hypothetical example, he said an investigator working undercover at Formosa Magazine would not have been considered a source of national security-related intelligence, the lawmaker said.
The act stipulates that information cannot be classified to conceal illegal behavior or administrative errors, or to cover up disreputable behavior by individuals or groups, he said.
If the Taiwan Garrison Command or any national security agencies broke the law in their handling of Chen’s case, the NSB cannot use this as reason to permanently classify the documents, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on the committee accused the DPP administration of using the draft political archives act to persecute their party.
National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) responded by saying that the draft act was not targeted at anyone.
The purpose of the proposed legislation is to objectively restore history, and to facilitate the publication and preservation of political documents, she said.
The proposed act would help efforts to achieve transitional justice, DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said, adding that as many relevant documents are still in the KMT’s possession, there is an urgent need for the draft act.
According to the Executive Yuan’s draft of the act, political documents would be automatically declassified once their classification period expires or the conditions for declassification have been met.
Documents that have been classified for more than 30 years, with the exception of documents with a legal basis for classification, are to be declassified, the draft states.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS