Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) use of the term “demon” on Friday when discussing the case of Hong Kong murder suspect Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳) was in reference to the judicial process and not a specific lawyer, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said yesterday.
Su on Friday said the issue of how to handle Chan’s case was akin to a “demon-revealing mirror” that could reveal not only the demon, but also the “demon within the demon.”
He added that C.V. Chen (陳長文), a lawyer representing Chan, was linked to Reverend Peter Koon (管浩鳴), “a clergyman who doubles as a Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference member” and who has acted as an intermediary between Chen and the Hong Kong government.
Su also said that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was “fake crying” to show sympathy for the victim’s family.
Su’s remarks drew criticism from Ma, who said Su’s analogy showed he is unfit to be premier.
“Su referred to me as a demon. It shows he has an immoral heart and speaks nonsense,” Ma said.
Hsu yesterday said that Su’s comments about a “demon” were not referring to lawyer defending Chan, but the judicial process of the case.
“There are numerous highly questionable aspects [to the case], and Su was referring to [the common phrase of] ‘the devil is in the details,’” Hsu said.
“We ask concerned people not to read too much into it, and not to make the wrong interpretation,” Hsu added.
Chan is suspected of murdering his girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), also a Hong Konger, in February last year while in Taiwan.
On Monday last week, the Hong Kong government notified Taiwan that Chan would like to “turn himself in” to Taiwanese authorities after his release on Wednesday last week.
He had been sentenced to 29 months in prison for money laundering after he used Poon’s bank card to make withdrawals, but was released early after making a plea bargain.
Some local media reports alleged that Chen had plotted with Chinese and Hong Kong officials to have Chan “turn himself in” to Taiwanese authorities, as a way to “let China and Hong Kong off the hook” for a now-withdrawn extradition bill that sparked months of protests in the territory.
Hsu said that Taiwan would communicate and work with Hong Kong, while a task force was ready in Taiwan, to handle Chan.
Hsu added: “Chan can come to Taiwan tomorrow, or he can even do so tonight. We have a team ready to handle the legal process of this case.”
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