Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) is facing allegations of operating a “paparazzi” group to surveil his political adversaries.
The accusations stem from a lawsuit filed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) in June last year publicly released a video showing Wang’s car making an illegal left turn.
Wang said he suspected the video was recorded by paparazzi.
After months of investigation, prosecutors said the people who shot the video were staff members of Kai Ssu International Co, a company with no known news publication.
The investigation found that one of the four people who followed Wang was a former aide of Huang. It also said that Kai Ssu International had invested in a TPP-friendly polling company and a media outlet headed by a man who cofounded the Anti-Corruption and Whistleblower Protection Association (TAWPA) with Huang.
The Chinese-language Mirror Media on Sept. 26 alleged that Huang had established the paparazzi group in 2021, led by Hsieh Hsing-en (謝幸恩) of the state-run Central News Agency (CNA). It said that Hsieh used a pseudonym and forwarded photographs or content made by the paparazzi group to other media outlets, including RW News (菱傳媒), and to politicians and media with close ties to Huang.
Huang allegedly directed the activities of the paparazzi group, which targeted mostly DPP members, but also a few of his allies. Content provided by the group led to the false accusations by Hsu in 2022 against then-DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) and by KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) against Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Meng-an (潘孟安). The latter is appealing a ruling that found her guilty of defamation.
Hsieh on Monday last week resigned from CNA, which has filed a criminal complaint against her for breach of trust and damage to its reputation. She has denied the charges and insisted she is upholding “freedom of the press.”
RW News on Tuesday last week ceased operations.
The media is referred to as the “fourth estate” in a democracy, because it provides checks and balances on the three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial — by informing the public and holding the government accountable.
If the accusations about Huang are true, then that would mean that the leader of Taiwan’s third-largest political party has abused his power to use the press to surveil and intimidate his political adversaries and allies alike.
Huang’s alleged actions go beyond the definitions of a “whistle-blower” in the Public Interest Whistleblower Protection Act (公益揭弊者保護法), which he had vigorously promoted and took effect this year. If true, his actions have overstepped the boundaries of political ethics and could be illegal.
If the TPP and the KMT — which has said that the allegations against Huang would not affect the two parties’ cooperation — prioritize party or personal gains over democratic values, they might lose people’s trust in their capability to protect the public interest.
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday last week announced it is launching investigations into 16 US trading partners, including Taiwan, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether they have engaged in unfair trade practices, such as overproduction. A day later, the agency announced a separate Section 301 investigation into 60 economies based on the implementation of measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Several of Taiwan’s main trading rivals — including China, Japan, South Korea and the EU — also made the US’ investigation list. The announcements come
Taiwan is not invited to the table. It never has been, but this year, with the Philippines holding the ASEAN chair, the question that matters is no longer who gets formally named, it is who becomes structurally indispensable. The “one China” formula continues to do its job. It sets the outer boundary of official diplomatic speech, and no one in the region has a serious interest in openly challenging it. However, beneath the surface, something is thickening. Trade corridors, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, supply chains, cross-border investment: The connective tissue between Taiwan and ASEAN is quietly and methodically growing
RSS