A group of 20 Taiwan experts in the US, Canada and Australia issued a joint statement in Washington on Tuesday condemning the recent wave of detentions of present and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), calling them a serious violation of the rule of law and human rights.
The statement also warned that the arrests could signal an erosion of Taiwanese democracy and hurt Taiwan’s international image.
“Taiwan needs to move forward, not backwards to the unfair and unjust procedures practiced during the dark days of martial law” the signatories wrote, evoking the “White Terror” era when the KMT regime persecuted ethnic Taiwanese, killing tens of thousands of them and imprisoning many Taiwanese leaders and activists between 1947 and 1987.
OFFICIALS QUESTIONED
Over the past three weeks, seven DPP members have been questioned, arrested or detained by the authorities, including former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), DPP Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), former minister of the interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) and city or county officials in Tainan and Yunlin.
Expressing their “deep concern” over the recent detentions, the authors complained about abuses by Taiwan’s judiciary under the KMT, including detaining the officials without charges and holding them incommunicado.
“The political neutrality of the judicial system is an essential element in a democracy. It is also essential that any accused [is] considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law,” they wrote.
“We ... believe that the procedures followed by the prosecutor’s offices are severely flawed: while one or two of the accused have been formally charged, the majority is being held incommunicado without being charged. This is a severe contravention of the writ of habeas corpus and a basic violation of due process, justice and the rule of law,” they said.
The authors includes Nat Bellocchi, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan; Steve Yates, former national security aide to US Vice President Dick Cheney; Coen Blaauw and Gerrit van der Wees of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA); John Tkacik of the Heritage Foundation; David Prager Branner, director of the American Oriental Society; and a number of top professors of Asian and international affairs at leading universities in North America and Australia.
FAIR AND OPEN
The group called on the KMT to deal with “any alleged wrongdoings” by the detainees “in a fair and open manner in an impartial court. They said justice through the rule of law is essential to Taiwan’s efforts to consolidate democracy and protect fundamental human rights.”
“We do not want to see Taiwan’s hard-earned democracy jeopardized in this manner,” they said. “It would be sad for Taiwan and detrimental to its international image if the progress which was made during the past 20 years would be erased.”
The group also complained that prosecutors have been leaking information that is detrimental to cases to a media that is largely supportive of the KMT or under its control.
“This kind of ‘trial by press’ is a violation of the basic standards of judicial procedures. It also gives the distinct impression that the Kuomintang authorities are using the judicial system to get even with members of the former DPP government,” the statement said.
During the eight years of DPP government under president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), several KMT officials were prosecuted for various crimes, including Ma himself, but the judiciary regularly dismissed such charges.
The statement comes just four days after FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) issued a letter making the same accusations against the KMT for the detentions.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS