Academics and activists yesterday criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) civil rights and foreign policy at a forum hosted by the Taiwan Forever Association.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator-elect Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that while he had backed the passage of the Police Power Exercise Act (警察職權行使法) — which requires police to use force proportionally and reveal their identities, the act was promulgated before the Sunflower movement’s 2014 occupation of the Executive Yuan’s Main Chamber and people never thought that the “the police would actually beat people.”
Ascertaining who was responsible for what happened is an important part of realizing transitional justice, he said.
Taiwan Forever Association secretary-general Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) said he has been kept busy during the eight years of Ma’s administration.
While Ma pushed for legislation giving both the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the force of domestic law, his respect for human rights could only be called “counterfeit” because of the numerous human rights violation cases that occurred under his watch, Kao said.
He dismissed the government’s claim that it was unable to identify the police officers responsible for hitting protesters, stating that police have a face recognition system for which the Ministry of Science and Technology has also contributed funds.
While legislation requires police officers to wear identification stating their names and positions, they often wear raincoats while on duty to avoid recognition, he said.
In related news, Academia Sinica research fellow Wu Jieh-min (吳介民) said that Beijing’s “united front” strategy is complicated and is now focused on enforcing the “suzerainty” of Taiwan. If Taiwan accepts the so-called “1992 consensus,” it would be difficult to turn back because its essence is that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “one China,” he said, adding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Ma no longer refer to the “different interpretations” aspect of the formula as evidenced by Ma’s remarks during his visit to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) on Thursday.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. Former KMT lawmaker Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said that he had made up the term in 2000, when he was head of the Mainland Affairs Council, before the KMT handed power to the DPP.
It is fortunate the Sunflower movement happened because it interfered with Beijing’s “united front” strategy, leading it to begin talking about the “1992 consensus” after the KMT’s defeat in the 2013 local elections, Wu said.
Previously, Beijing had only referred to the “one country, two systems” formula he said, adding that last year’s meeting between Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was an effort at “precautionary damage control” by China ahead of Taiwanese national elections.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS