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Taiwan News Quick Take

■CRIME

Two indicted for spying

A senior Presidential Office employee and legislative aide were indicted yesterday on charges of providing classified information to China, a prosecutor said. Wang Ren-bing (王仁炳) was charged with violating the National Security Act (國安法) by leaking documents gathered during the last three years of former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) term, prosecutor Huang Mou-hsin (黃謀信) said. Legislative aide Chen Pin-jen (陳品仁) was indicted on similar charges, Huang said. A three-year jail term was suggested for both, he said. Huang said the leaked documents contained information about Chen Shui-bian's foreign visits, his anti-China political efforts and aid given to diplomatic allies. Wang is the first presidential office employee known to have been accused of spying for China.



■CRIME

SIP urges fugitive to return

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP) yesterday urged fugitive Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) to return home to face investigation. The former Tuntex Group chairman was indicted in late 2003 on suspicion of embezzling NT$800 million (US$23 million) from his company. He fled to China before eventually making his way to the US. Chen held press conferences in the US in 2003 alleging Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had taken bribes from him. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said yesterday that fugitives were returning home because a friendly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government was giving them special privileges, citing the case of director Liu Jia-chang (劉家昌). Liu and his wife were released on bail last Friday shortly after their return to Taiwan that same day. They were able to leave for Hong Kong on Tuesday night after the Bureau of Consular Affairs at Taoyuan International Airport issued Liu a temporary passport.



■DIPLOMACY

MOFA criticizes UN

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) criticized the UN yesterday for blocking Taiwanese from attending the Convention on the Status of Women (CSW), calling the treatment “very unfair.” “The CSW is a setting for non-governmental organizations, which means it should be opened to all people,” he said. Thanks to an objection from a Taiwanese non-governmental organization, the CSW convention had agreed to abolish the rule that only people holding UN-recognized passports could participate in the convention, which allowed all members of Taiwanese women’s rights groups who held valid US visas to enter the convention venue during the first three days of the meeting, he said. On the fourth day, UN staffers only allowed people holding UN-recognized passports to enter the facility. “We are getting to the bottom of the issue on why there is a difference between the convention policy and execution,” Chen said. He said the representative office in New York and the Department of International Organizations were investigating the incident.



■CRIME

US fugitive repatriated

US fugitive Mark Lee Kaczmarczyk was repatriated yesterday after paying a NT$2,000 fine for overstaying his visa. Kaczmarczyk was escorted by Criminal Investigation Bureau agents to Taoyuan International Airport and handed over to FBI agents on an EVA Airways plane bound for the US. He is wanted in California for allegedly molesting six children at a daycare center. He arrived in Taiwan on Jan. 8 from Hong Kong and was arrested in Taipei last month.


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