The government’s plan to file a lawsuit in a court in China to appeal taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun’s (楊淑君) disqualification was misguided and unlikely to gain the desired result, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
The World Taekwondo Federation’s (WTF) controversial decision to disqualify Yang should be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which the DPP caucus said would provide a more balanced ruling.
Lee and Li Attorneys at Law (理律法律事務所), retained by the government to handle legal matters related to Yang’s disqualification during an Asian Games event last week, said on Monday that it would be more appropriate to sue a WTF official for slander and forgery in a Guangzhou court.
Sung Yao-ming (宋耀明), a lawyer with the law firm, voiced concerns that international arbitration would take months, while filing the lawsuit directly in Guangzhou would expedite the process. He also said an extended legal process could prevent Taiwanese taekwondo athletes from participating in the 2012 Olympics.
However, DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) raised fears that a ruling from a Chinese court could be subject to political bias because China’s judicial system was “not impartial.”
WTF secretary-general Yang Jin-suk had no obligation to show up in the Guangzhou court, Chai said, adding: “Then the entire case will likely just disappear. [Filing] it there is the wrong move.”
Even if the law firm were to file the case in China, DPP lawmakers said the lawsuit would be incomplete without including Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) vice president Zhao Lei (趙磊), a Chinese national who initially called into question the electronic sensors on Yang Shu-chun’s socks during a match.
WTF officials upheld Zhao’s allegations that Yang Shu-chun had two extra sensory pads on the back of her socks, but Taiwan’s government, citing video evidence, has disputed the charges.
“Zhao certainly has the motive, as the Chinese contender [Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺)] was one of his most favored players. He was the instigator of the entire episode,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said that based on information confirmed by the government, Zhao had spoken against the WTF decision in support of Yang during two closed-door meetings on the disciplinary process last week.
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