Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday vowed to appeal a decision by the Taiwan High Court to convict him of leaking classified information, saying that he aims to not only defend his rights, but also to seek clarification on the boundaries of the presidential mandate.
“As [yesterday’s] ruling reached a different conclusion than the three previous verdicts, we need to clarify this issue,” Ma said in response to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a public event in Taipei.
The case is essentially litigating constitutional matters, Ma said, adding that he has to fight not only for his own rights, but also to ensure that the mandate of the nation’s presidents will not be restricted.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“I will definitely appeal the ruling,” Ma said while surrounded by scores of supporters, some of whom waved Republic of China flags and held cardboard posters that read: “Oppose political persecution.”
Asked whether the guilty verdict was associated with Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng’s (陳師孟) pledge in January to focus on Ma and judges who appear lenient toward the pan-blue camp, Ma said that the public would have its own judgement on the matter.
He also struck back at the court’s ruling, which sentenced him to four months in prison for leaking information regarding an ongoing investigation and said that he failed to set a good example for society as the democratically elected head of state.
“Failing to set a good example would be if I chose to go home and take a nap while facing this case,” Ma said.
Yesterday’s ruling was the second verdict in a case filed by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and can still be appealed. Ma was acquitted in the first ruling in August last year.
The case was derived from an incident in September 2013, when Ma gave then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) wiretapped conversations gathered as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged lobbying by Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Ma claimed his actions were an attempt to assuage the scandal’s potential effects on the relationship between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan, as it also implicated then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and then-minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫), prosecutors said.
In his defense, Ma cited Article 44 of the Constitution, which affords the president the right to provide consultations on a dispute involving two or more branches of the government.
Ma was last year acquitted in two rulings on a case filed by Ker, one in March and the other in October.
Yesterday’s ruling “has raised concerns about whether Chen’s remarks have caused a chilling effect in the judicial community,” Ma’s office spokeswoman Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said, adding that Ma did what any responsible president would have done to prevent a potential constitutional crisis.
Expressing the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) regret over the verdict, Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) said in a statement that the ruling has misinterpreted the law and humiliated a former president.
‘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