Judicial reform under the current administration is on the wrong track, because non-interference in some cases and indictments of heavyweight politicians does not constitute reform, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
In an interview published in the -Chinese-language United Evening News, the 54-year-old presidential hopeful talked about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) judicial reforms, the highly publicized indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as well as her economic policies.
Judicial reforms should start with systematic changes, she said.
WRONG-HEADED
“If President Ma’s reforms starts with cases that have political implications, then they are heading in the wrong direction,” Tsai said.
For example, the indictment of Lee, who on Friday was charged with embezzling state funds, gives rise to certain suspicions, she said, adding that opinion polls showed most Taiwanese, particularly in southern parts of the country, felt the move was politically motivated.
Ma “talks about judicial reform and non-interference in specific cases every day, but that does not represent real reform,” she said.
As to whether the Ma administration had adhered to the principle of non-interference in specific cases, “the public will make its own judgment,” Tsai said.
Tsai said she has consistently refrained from discussing judicial cases involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and now Lee because real reform should focus on protecting the rights of ordinary citizens, who tend not to enjoy the support and resources available to politicians.
On rumors that she, too, is implicated in an improper use of state funds case, Tsai said that while she did receive a subsidy for her research at the time, implying she embezzled state funds was a “vicious tactic.”
SOCIAL SUPPORT
A national leader should be able to generate the political will and social support to reform the judiciary as well as deal with conflicts of interest and various historical problems, Tsai said.
However, the Ma administration has deliberately shied away from making some much-needed decisions and had remained unaccountable, she said.
Meanwhile, Tsai said she was optimistic the DPP would be able to establish a “clean government,” saying the party had learned from its mistakes when it was in office from 2000 until 2008.
To label the DPP a corrupt party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) uncorrupt would be a “dumbfounding assertion,” she said, as the KMT is much richer and its integrity has continually been questioned.
On economic issues, Tsai, who played a key role in Taiwan’s negotiations with the WTO, expanded on her vision of a “globalized economy” for Taiwan.
The goal, she said, was to develop competitive sectors “with local characteristics,” such as orchid growing and the high-value-added service sector.
VISION
“Research and development can also develop into a sector of its own rather than a division controlled by private corporations,” she said, adding that the transformation of Taiwan’s industrial structure could take as long as a decade.
Explaining her campaign slogan “Taiwan NEXT,” Tsai said this stemmed from a determination to ensure the well-being of Taiwan’s next generation and the country’s development over the next 10 years.
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