The decision last week by the Edinburgh District Court in Scotland that British businessman Zain Dean should be extradited back to Taiwan to serve his sentence for killing newspaper delivery man Huang Chun-te (黃俊德) is quite rightly being seen as a victory for justice.
However the diplomatic triumph it heralds is even more significant.
Convicted on March 25, 2010 of killing newspaper deliveryman Huang Chun-te while driving under the influence of alcohol, Dean was given a four-year term for driving under the influence of alcohol, involuntary manslaughter and fleeing the scene of an accident. But he absconded on Aug. 14, 2012, using the passport of his friend Christopher David Churcher.
Photo: Fang pin-chao, taipei times
From his sanctuary in the UK, Dean has besmirched the Taiwanese legal system and questioned its legitimacy. He has claimed not to have had a fair trial, questioned the prosecutors handling of evidence, argued that his treatment in prison here will contravene human rights laws and even had the audacity to offer to return if the Taiwanese authorities agreed to four of his conditions.
This demand was refused, and prosecutors and the government went about negotiations with their British counterparts in a scrupulously efficient manner.
These efforts, led by UK Representative Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡), in London, led to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UK on the extradition of prisoners between the two countries, signed on Oct. 16. This is an approach the UK has been very keen on in recent years as it looks to reduce the number of foreign nationals in custody there. But with only two Taiwanese nationals currently in the UK prison system, to have secured an agreement so swiftly, with the usual diplomatic challenges to overcome, is a huge achievement.
Ongoing engagement with the Scottish police to ensure Dean was arrested the day after the signing, to avoid him absconding again, is also hugely to their credit.
While much of the negotiating has been done, Dean’s extradition is still far from certain. The final decision on the extradition of all UK nationals abroad rests ultimately with the relevant government official — in this case Scottish Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill.
CONTROVERSY
MacAskill has a history of controversial extradition decisions. In 2009, he authorized the release on compassionate grounds of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan national convicted of blowing up an airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 270 people. Al-Megrahi had terminal cancer and was supposed to only have weeks to live, yet he survived until 2012. The decision proved extremely damaging to Scottish relations with the US, whose citizens made up the majority of the victims.
MacAskill has eight weeks to make this decision, and can expect to be lobbied hard from interested parties on both sides. Taipei’s representative will make representations, as will the British Foreign Office, and other interested parties, including, perhaps, the Chinese authorities.
Despite these external pressures the decision is for him alone, and the MOU makes it highly likely that the extradition will be approved. Dean will then have the right to appeal the decision to the Scottish High Court, and then the UK Supreme Court and even the European Court of Human Rights, all of which could take time.
PRECEDENT
Regardless of the final outcome for Dean, the diplomatic precedent this case sets is a big step forward in Anglo-Taiwanese affairs.
Firstly, should a similar case occur again, justice will now be served more efficiently.
Secondly, the case saw a significant moment in British recognition of Taiwan. During extradition proceedings, defense lawyers were informed that questioning Taiwan’s sovereign status was voided by the memorandum as it showed that the UK government acknowledges Taiwan as a political entity, regardless of the presence of official diplomatic relations. This recognition from a British court of law is the first for many years.
In addition, an earlier ruling from the High Court in London enforced a fine handed down to Dean in a Taiwanese Court and in doing so acknowledged the legitimacy of the Taiwanese legal system.
These successes have been rather played down in the official statements.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said the ruling was “a great example of mutual judicial cooperation.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the decision as “another important milestone” and “a positive precedent … for mutual judicial assistance between Taipei and the UK.”
The most positive comment came from Shen Lyu-shun, now representative in the US, who told CNA there that the ruling benefitted Taiwan’s legal status.
In terms of relations with the UK, he is absolutely right. This is more than just a legal agreement. It is an opportunity, and if handled correctly could be the foundation of continuing improvements in Anglo-Taiwanese, and broader Euro-Taiwanese relations.
It just remains to be seen if the new London representative, Liu Chih-kung (劉志攻), and his team in London can capitalize on this golden opportunity.
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
RSS