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Presidential Office backs handing out of flyers on UN bid

Military police officers should not be punished for trying to hand out flyers promoting the government's UN bid during the Double Ten National Day celebrations, the Presidential Office said yesterday.

"There was nothing wrong with military police officers handing out the flyers, because [applying for UN membership using the name `Taiwan'] is a major national policy," said Chang Kung-han (張功漢), deputy director-general of the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs.

On Wednesday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), chairman of the committee which organized the National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Office, asked military police officers to take back the flyers from people attending the celebrations after he was informed that some military police officers in charge of maintaining order at the venue had been handing out flyers promoting the UN bid and inflatable thunder sticks bearing the "UN for Taiwan" logo.

Wang said guidelines regulating the event stipulate that bulky backpacks, weapons, megaphones, balloons, signs, flyers or flags unrelated to the celebrations would not be allowed.

Punishment

Several opposition legislators have demanded that the Ministry of National Defense investigate the matter and punish those responsible.

While the Presidential Office respected Wang's decision to retrieve the flyers, Chang said, the military police officers should not be held accountable.

Chang did not say whether the Presidential Office had instructed the officers to distribute the flyers.

At a separate setting yesterday, Wang said he did not want to see anyone punished over the flyer incident.

He said that he only hoped to highlight the importance for everyone to abide by regulations.

When approached by reporters for comment yesterday, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said the flyers in support of the government's UN bid should be considered exempt from the ban on other types of flyers at the celebrations, because the UN bid was part of official Cabinet policy.

However, he said that the Cabinet would urge the government agencies concerned to look into the matter because there was public concern about the flyer incident.

Thorough review

Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) said that the ministry would review the incident thoroughly.

As the ministry is still looking into the matter, he cannot decide now who was right and who was wrong, Lee said.

"If he [the military police commander] did not do anything wrong, it would be unnecessary to punish him," he said at yesterday's legislative question-and-answer session.

When asked why the ministry could not find out who ordered the flyer issuance any sooner, Lee denied that he had been under any kind of political pressure concerning the flyer incident.

"The ministry will punish whoever did something wrong," he said.
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