Transitional Justice Commission associate researcher Wu Pei-jung (吳佩蓉) yesterday said she was the one who leaked a recording of former commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) commenting about manipulating the media.
In a statement on Facebook, Wu said that Chang’s conduct proved he was unqualified to be deputy chairman and she did not regret exposing him, the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media reported yesterday.
In another story published yesterday, the magazine reported that Chang, in an Aug. 24 commission meeting, said that former New Taipei City deputy mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) was a “despicable” case in the pursuit of transitional justice and that it would be a “shame” if Hou’s work in the authoritarian era was not capitalized upon.
“While using Hou to promote a lustration law makes sense to a certain extent, does having a high-ranking official with considerable influence and administrative resources manipulate the issue, using it to unjustly attack Hou, really strengthen our democracy?” Wu asked.
Her decision to expose Chang’s comments was motivated by a question she asked herself about whether Taiwan needs a lustration law and whether it would benefit the nation’s democracy, she said.
“If government officials’ past should undergo scrutiny, I believe it is necessary to ensure that all related political documents are collected and strictly examined,” she said.
“A lustration law should only be drafted after the majority of the public agrees with the idea,” she said.
The nation does not need an evil law “promoted in the name of justice,” she added.
Chang was unqualified to be deputy chairman, because he had been using public resources to promote his own interests, she said.
In addition to attempting to manipulate the media to attack his political opponent, Chang used the commission’s budget to pay for his house and furniture, and asked commission staff to run his personal errands, she said.
Chang is extremely rich, but the commission, established earlier this year, has a very limited budget, she added.
She apologized to her colleagues for betraying their trust and said she has resigned from her post.
She was ashamed of using an unjust method to expose the matter, but does not regret it, she added.
The commission would launch an investigation into the matter, commission Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) said.
Chang has verbally tendered his resignation and he has approved it, Huang said.
When asked about Wu, Huang only said that she did not show up for work yesterday.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
RSS