Domestic media called for a fair trial and urged the public to stay calm after former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was charged with corruption on Friday.
A slightly thinner and tired-looking Chen — who went on a hunger strike while in detention — was released early yesterday after being charged with embezzlement and money laundering along with 13 others, including his wife and son.
Prosecutors said Chen, the first former president to face trial, and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) made illegal gains of some US$45 million from embezzling public funds and taking bribes from businessmen.
Their son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) were also indicted for money laundering in connection with the case.
Chen thanked his lawyers, his party and supporters after his release and said the 32 days in custody were the “hardest and loneliest” days of his life.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) urged a fair trial and condemned various violations of the law during the investigation process.
“Whether a former president is guilty or not depends on the evidence ... He is innocent until proven guilty according to the law and his right to due process should be protected,” the editorial said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily called the case a “milestone” for the rule of law in Taiwan and urged the judges to make their decision based on the evidence alone.
“The case will have a profound impact on Taiwan ... to become a milestone to further Taiwan’s democracy and its rule of law,” it said. “We urge the judges to focus on the evidence ... while politicians and commentators should respect the judicial system so the case can become a positive lesson in Taiwan.”
The English-language China Post also called for calm for the upcoming trial.
“All the people should wait patiently for the outcome of the trial ... They shouldn’t do anything to influence the judges in any way, because the rule of law in Taiwan is at stake,” it said. “We should show the world that Taiwan is a democracy where anybody who commits a crime, be he a man on the street or a former president, is duly punished.”
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods