Wed, Jul 01, 2020 page3

• DPP caucus defends Chen Chu

  FOR THE RECORD: DPP lawmakers touted Chen’s record as a human rights activist and rebutted claims that she was the subject of numerous impeachment probes

  • By Hsieh Chun-lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to focus its efforts on legislative interpellation and stop slandering former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊), who has been nominated to head the Control Yuan.

  Chen’s role in the Formosa Incident, also known as the Kaohsiung Incident, was a life-or-death affair and her contributions to Taiwan’s democratization, as well as her efforts as a human rights activist, cannot be overlooked, DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said.

  The KMT’s claims that during her tenure as Kaohsiung mayor, Chen and her team had been the subject of multiple impeachments issued by the Control Yuan are exaggerated, Chung said.

  

  National Security Council adviser Hsiao Bi-khim is pictured in an undated photograph. The Presidential Office on June 15 announced Hsiao’s appointment as the nation’s representative to the US.

  Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times

  From 2008 to 2018, there were 277 impeachment cases against the Taipei City Government and its affiliated agencies, while New Taipei City — before and after it became a special municipality in 2010 — had 214 impeachment cases, he said.

  By comparison, Chen faced 167 cases during her mayoral term and she was never impeached, he said.

  DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that nominating Chen to chair the National Human Rights Commission is the perfect arrangement in the history of Taiwan’s human rights development.

  According to the Organic Act of the Control Yuan National Human Rights Commission (監察院國家人權委員會組織法), the Control Yuan president should be appointed as chairperson of the commission.

  The KMT’s baseless accusations to hinder Chen’s appointment led to its farcical attempt to enact a Legislative Yuan filibuster on Monday, Kuan said.

  Rebutting two rumors circulating online, Kuan said that Chen had never been the target of a Control Yuan impeachment and that Chen had paid back NT$120.8 billion (US$4.07 billion at the current exchange rate) in municipal arrears, more than the NT$103 billion she raised in office.

  DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) commended Chen’s contributions to labor pension reform, support for gender equality, same-sex marriage and declassification of political files.

  Despite having left office, Chen still enjoys a 60 percent support rate, a far cry from former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was voted out of office on June 6, Liu said, adding that polls have shown that the public believed Chen would be a capable Control Yuan president.

  None of the accusations against Chen over the past three years are based on facts and the KMT should not resort to slandering others to draw attention away from its internal strife, DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said.

  Such an action is not becoming of a mature political party, Lai said, adding that the KMT should offer proof of its claims.

  Lai was referring to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday urging the KMT to return to the so-called “1992 consensus,” while KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) is pushing to distance the party from the concept.

  The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
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