Visiting American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty yesterday said that remarks he made to lawmakers in Taipei earlier this week about a new act introduced to address the legacy of the injustices perpetrated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the authoritarian era had been misinterpreted.
Moriarty wanted to clarify the remarks he made during a closed-door meeting on Monday with Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and several KMT and Democratic Progressive Party legislators, the AIT said.
One of the lawmakers present at the meeting told reporters that Moriarty, the top US official in charge of Taiwan policy, was concerned about how the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), enacted by the legislature on Dec. 5, would be implemented and that it might cause “desinicization” problems.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
The AIT yesterday told the Central News Agency via e-mail that Moriarty wanted to set the record straight about what he said regarding the act.
In a statement, Moriarty said that his remarks to legislators earlier this week about the act were “mischaracterized.”
“I did not express concern about the law. I did not criticize the passage or concept of the law,” Moriarty said.
“Rather, I noted that I have heard from Chinese academics, officials and others about something they call ‘desinification’ — which is as horrible-sounding in English as it is in Chinese — and I simply asked the legislators if this issue was considered during the Legislative Yuan debate about the Transitional Justice Act [sic],” he said.
Moriarty arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a week-long visit that ends today.
It is his third trip to the nation since his appointment as AIT chairman in October last year.
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice stipulates that the Executive Yuan should establish an ad hoc committee to implement the transitional justice measures set forth under the act.
The measures include publishing political archives, removing authoritarian symbols and reversing miscarriages of justice during the authoritarian era.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
CASE: Prosecutors have requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in ‘undermining the country’s democratic foundations’ Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for