President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has no right to criticize the Hong Kong government over an extradition bill, as Taiwan is becoming increasingly undemocratic under her rule, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
Ma made the remarks at an academic conference on democracy held by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation and the Fair Winds Foundation in Taipei.
The Republic of China (ROC) appears to have turned into an authoritarian country after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) set up the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to control the assets of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its “so-called” affiliates, Ma said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
As a result, the KMT was forced to lay off many of its staff and cannot even access its assets unless approved by the committee, he said.
“That an opposition party’s assets would be controlled by the ruling party is rarely seen anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Act Governing the Settlement of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例) and the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), passed by the DPP-controlled legislature, seem to target the KMT, he said.
Both laws allowed the DPP administration to establish supposedly independent committees that are not actually independent and are likely unconstitutional, Ma said.
More than 400 of the people the Transitional Justice Commission exonerated at the end of last year were the Chinese Communist Party’s undercover agents, he said.
Their names can still be found at monuments in Beijing, he said, adding that exonerating them was inconsiderate for the families of those they allegedly killed.
Tsai’s “so-called” transitional justice does not bring reconciliation, but instead revives authoritarianism, he added.
While the extradition bill proposed by the Hong Kong government would undermine people’s freedom and democracy, “Tsai is worse” for making the DPP pass amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) last month to restrict people’s freedom and political rights, he said.
Tsai has no right to criticize the Hong Kong government, yet she used the issue to manipulate people into supporting her, he said.
As suggested in the book How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, a democracy dies when an authoritarian leader abuses their power to completely dominate an opposition party, Ma said.
“Is it not what is happening in Taiwan?” he asked.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
PIVOTAL ROLE: Taiwan’s importance in the global chip supply chain can be bolstered by domestic equipment manufacturing, President Tsai Ing-wen said Efforts must be made to better secure Taiwan’s place in the global supply chain by localizing production of equipment and facilities used by the semiconductor industry, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai discussed the issue during a meeting with representatives from the Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association at the Presidential Office in Taipei. Product shortages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly of automotive chips — highlighted the pivotal role of Taiwan in the global supply chain, she said. Tsai thanked the association for cooperating with the government on the shared goal of localizing production of important semiconductor industry equipment.
SEPARATE CASE? A woman tested positive when she went with her daughter to be tested, because her daughter had taken the same bus to school as a steakhouse worker The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 10 local COVID-19 cases, six of whom had visited a steakhouse in Taoyuan where an infection cluster has been reported. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that of the 10 local infections, one case — No. 17,928 — is a Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport disease prevention staffer who works in the area where inbound travelers collect their saliva for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and sometimes at the fever screening station. The staffer had tested negative in a PCR test on Jan. 9 and
TRACING UNDER WAY: The CECC has identified six transmission chains among 25 recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, including those linked to a restaurant and a bank The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 54 new COVID-19 infections — 44 imported and 10 local — and identified six transmission chains among local cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the imported cases are 18 who tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 26 who tested positive during quarantine. Of the local cases, seven are associated with a cluster infection at a Tasty Steak (西堤牛排) outlet in Taoyuan’s Zhongli District (中壢), one is linked to a family of four with COVID-19 reported on Monday, one is a family member of an
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