There was no sign a consensus could be reached among the public to do away with the death penalty, said Yang, adding that in polls more than 70 percent of the people supported executions.
“Friends in Europe should be able to understand [the situation in Taiwan] as they took a long time to achieve universal abolition of the death penalty,” Yang said.
“We will gradually move toward the goal everyone wants to achieve,” Yang said.
Yang said that the ministry did not know in advance of the executions of the four inmates, which were carried out at 7:30pm on April 30, but had ordered the overseas offices to clearly explain the government’s position on the matter to EU countries.
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