A member of the US Congress said on Wednesday that he considered the plight of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to be a tragedy.
Addressing the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Steve Chabot soundly condemned Chen’s treatment.
During a committee hearing into the threat of military and economic aggression from China, Chabot said: “I think the fact that the Taiwanese government has decided to move itself into the direction of the criminalization of politics is unfortunate.”
He added: “The previous president — president Chen Shui-bian — is still behind bars.”
“I think for an administration to come in and essentially jail the previous administration is a tragedy,” he said.
Chabot ended his statement — made during the question-and-answer period of the hearing — by saying that he thought the Ma administration should deal with Chen’s imprisonment “sooner rather than later.”
A Congressional staff member, who asked not to be quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak on this issue, said that he expected other members of the House to raise the Chen case.
He said sympathy for Chen was growing, following reports that he was in failing health and being held in a cell without a proper bed and without a table or chair.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) appealed directly to US President Barack Obama last week to help Chen get medical parole so that he could receive hospital treatment.
So far, the White House has not responded.
Chen is currently serving a 17-and-a-half year term on two concurrent sentences related to corruption charges.
The former president was recently diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome, significantly reduced blood flow and a prostate tumor.
He is only allowed 30 minutes of outdoor exercise each day.
FAPA official Coen Blaauw characterized Chabot’s remarks during the Congressional hearing as “dramatic.”
“Chabot has been a very strong supporter of Taiwan. He has met Chen several times,” Blaauw said.
“There is growing awareness and growing concern among members of the US Congress about Chen’s imprisonment,” he said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS