Pro-independence groups voiced support for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday, after Lee was indicted on charges of embezzling state funds on Friday, saying that even if the handling of state funds was inappropriate, Lee should be pardoned because of the historical circumstances.
There is no evidence to indicate that Lee embezzled state funds, but even if such evidence was produced, he should be pardoned because “Taiwanese presidents have been able to use state funds at their own discretion without regulations since the era of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and -Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國),” former presidential adviser Huang Tien-lin (黃天麟) said at a joint press conference hosted by the Taiwan Republic Office.
“Presidents thereafter simply followed suit,” Huang said, adding that as the first ROC [Republic of China] president to be directly elected, Lee should be immune from prosecution and regulations on the use of state funds should not be retroactive.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The ROC is a government-in-exile and has always resorted to judicial prosecution as a tool to counter anyone considered a threat to the regime, said Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) of the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan.
“In 2000 [People First Party Chairman] James Soong (宋楚瑜) was prosecuted, followed by [former president] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), and now it’s Lee Teng-hui,” he said.
The essence of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has not changed one bit, but it has certainly “improved” its approach, Healthy Taiwan Society president Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) said.
“In the past, the party resorted to assassinations to deal with political opponents, now, it uses the judicial system to lock them up,” he said.
Kuo lamented what he called a “double standard” in Taiwanese politics, saying that while Lee has been indicted for misusing state funds, the issue of KMT stolen assets remained unresolved.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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