Government to reconsider `secrets'

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday proclaimed for the first time that the new government would respect both freedom of the press and the independence of prosecutorial powers at the weekly Cabinet meeting but said that the definition of "national confidentiality" needed to first be clarified.

"The definition of so-called national confidentiality is too vague now, which can mislead the press and prosecutors and, therefore, generate controversies over whether news reports have violated the law," Director-General of the Government Information Office Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平) said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, quoting Chang.

Chang's comments came in response to the recent search of the China Times Express (中時晚報) newsroom and the arrest of the Power News (勁報) reporter Hung Che-cheng (洪哲政), who was accused of reporting "military secrets" allegedly leaked by former major Liu Chi-chung (劉持中).

The daily Power News on Tuesday returned fire on the government by accusing Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) of lying. The defense minister had said that Hung's arrest was made after the reporter failed to show up at the military court after having been subpoenaed three times.

Wu yesterday denied the newspaper's accusation, saying "I was not lying and the military never interferes with the freedom of press," while speaking at the Legislative Yuan. Wu told legislators that he was informed that military prosecutors had subpoenaed Hung on Sept. 5, Sept. 15 and Oct. 2. The newspaper, in response, yesterday argued that Hung has never received subpoena notices.

According to Su, the premier yesterday also expressed his hope that both the "Law of National Secret Protection" (國家機密保護法) and the "Law of Opening Government Information" (政府資訊公開法), drafted, passed by the Executive Yuan and submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review on April 29 last year, could be passed by the legislature as soon as possible. Chang said both laws would help clarify the scope of state secrets and make the government more transparent so that national security and press freedom could be both safeguarded.

The search of the newsrooms has touched of rancorous debate over the powers of prosecutors, who can carry out searches without first receiving search warrants.

Prosecutors have claimed that the power to conduct searches without first obtaining a court-issued search warrant is necessary to fight crime.

Reforms of the power prosecutors hold in search and seizures have been proposed most recently by a group of legislators who are pushing for a draft amendment to the code of criminal procedure that would curtail prosecutorial powers.

The Prosecutors Reform Association (檢察官改革協會) has said that the proposed change would be acceptable only if judges issuing warrants were made up of a separate body and were senior judges.