Bribery a matter of opinion

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) said yesterday that "paying bribes and receiving bribes are two different things" and added that Taiwan has made good progress in cracking down on corruption. Chen was responding to an annual report by Transparency International that says companies from Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea are most likely to pay bribes to secure business in emerging markets. Asked by the legislature's legal committee about his views on Taiwan's third-place ranking, Chen said that paying bribes and receiving them are different, that Taiwan's campaign against corruption has been good and that it would be wrong for "outsiders" to believe that Taiwan has a serious corruption problem. He also said that he was unaware of the content of the report, but pointed out that if Taiwan businessmen are paying bribes in other countries, "frankly, it is none of the government's business."