Scenes of lawmakers fighting in the legislatiure have become quite a common sight. It is as if the tussling has become an integral part of the push and pull of politics. There is a common understanding that if you cannot take the physical aspect of the job and if you are worried about getting hurt, then you have no business being there.
However, using this as an excuse to sexually harass colleagues is a different matter.
After Tuesday’s debate, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Hsuen-sheng (陳雪生) of sexually harassing her by “poking” her with his belly. The facts are open to interpretation, depending on whose account you believe.
However, it is indisputable that Chen responded to Fan’s accusation by saying that she could not possibly become pregnant by him poking her with his belly, so his actions could not have been sexual harassment.
He pressed the point further, telling her that “unless you can prove what I just did impregnated you, it is not sexual harassment.”
In doing so, Chen proved Fan’s point about the sexual nature of his conduct. He admitted to having “poked” her and conceded the sexual connotation of his actions, which stopped short of impregnating her, which, in his point of view, absolved him of the accusation.
Whether the intent of his action was in any way sexual, his subsequent denial suggests that it was sexual harassment, and it amply demonstrates his complete lack of awareness.
The interpretation of the incident is the subject of heated debate. Unfortunately, Chen’s KMT colleagues have closed ranks around him, and some regrettable things have been said, exacerbating the situation.
KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) told Fan that if she could not stand the heat, she knew what she should do. This misses the point. This is not about “the heat”, it is about allegations of touching a colleague in a way that constitutes sexual harassment. Attempts to obfuscate the issue and distract from the accusations of a vile act are unhelpful, as the vast majority of Taiwanese can see clearly what transpired.
KMT Legislator Hsu Chih-jung’s (徐志榮) rebuttal of the accusation on Facebook is just as unhelpful. Hsu said that he had seen Fan smiling at the time of the incident, leading him to the conclusion that she was perfectly OK with it.
Clearly, Hsu intended his post to absolve Chen Hsuen-sheng of guilt, but indirectly suggested the opposite. He recognized the sexual nature of what he saw, only denying that it was harassment because Fan was allegedly smiling.
In the face of alleged sexual harassment, members of the nation’s highest legislative organ closed ranks and demonstrated political partisanship. Lawmakers made inappropriate comments and questioned the motivations of the victim, or joked about the harm that has been caused.
They set the worst examples for society. Not only do they minimize the seriousness of sexual harassment, they harm the victim, and discourage other victims from coming forward.
We cannot just let this incident go by without doing something about it.
Huang Sue-ying is the president of Taiwan Women’s Link.
Translated by Paul Cooper
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
After more than a year of review, the National Security Bureau on Monday said it has completed a sweeping declassification of political archives from the Martial Law period, transferring the full collection to the National Archives Administration under the National Development Council. The move marks another significant step in Taiwan’s long journey toward transitional justice. The newly opened files span the architecture of authoritarian control: internal security and loyalty investigations, intelligence and counterintelligence operations, exit and entry controls, overseas surveillance of Taiwan independence activists, and case materials related to sedition and rebellion charges. For academics of Taiwan’s White Terror era —
After 37 US lawmakers wrote to express concern over legislators’ stalling of critical budgets, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) pledged to make the Executive Yuan’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget a top priority for legislative review. On Tuesday, it was finally listed on the legislator’s plenary agenda for Friday next week. The special defense budget was proposed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration in November last year to enhance the nation’s defense capabilities against external threats from China. However, the legislature, dominated by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), repeatedly blocked its review. The
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
RSS