N Korea fires seven more missiles
　

US NATIONAL DAY: Experts say ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is making a show of force to aid the succession of his son to the top spot in the nation

AFP, AND CNA, WITH STAFF WRITER, SEOUL
Sunday, Jul 05, 2009, Page 1

North Korea test-fired seven ballistic missiles yesterday, on US Independence Day celebrations, South Korean officials said, further fueling regional tensions amid its nuclear standoff.

Seoul’s foreign ministry said all seven of the weapons launched into the Sea of Japan were ballistic missiles, which North Korea is banned from firing under UN Security Council resolutions.

It was the first time in three years that the communist state had fired multiple ballistic missiles.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles had a range of between 400km and 500km, but declined to say what type they were.

Yonhap news agency said they were either Scuds, or Rodong-1 missiles whose range of 1,000km to 1,300km had been shortened.

North Korea on Thursday test-fired seven short-range missiles with a range of 120km into the Sea of Japan.

The latest launches were seen as more provocative since the missiles could potentially reach most of South Korea, and possibly parts of Japan.

“The military, on the basis of a strong joint defense alliance with the United States, is fully prepared to fend off any threats or provocations by the North,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The foreign ministry said the missiles were fired from a site at Kitdaeryong on North Korea’s southeast coast.

It said the “provocative act ... clearly violates” three UN Security Council resolutions, including the latest one from last month that toughened weapons-related sanctions on North Korea in response to its May 25 nuclear test.

“The government expresses deep regret over North Korea’s continued acts to escalate tensions in Northeast Asia in ignorance of the UN Security Council resolutions and urges North Korea to faithfully implement the resolutions,” it said in a statement.

“The Scuds fired today impose a greater security threat to us because of their longer ranges,” one government official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

“Thursday’s missile tests were apparently made as part of a military drill, but today’s [Saturday] launches, which came on the eve of the US Independence Day, are believed to be for political purposes,” the officials said.

Japan has condemned the launches.

“It is a serious act of provocation against the security of neighboring countries, including our country,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said.

Analysts said North Korea was flexing its military muscle amid the tough international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government yesterday expressed concern and condemned any action that might undermine regional peace.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said any move that jeopardizes regional peace should be restrained, adding that regional disputes should be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Ma doubling as KMT chief raises concern: experts
　

'STRONGMAN': While some observers were concerned over Ma Ying-jeou expanding his power as chairman, others said he might not find the task as easy as he thought

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jul 05, 2009, Page 3

“I don’t have any problem seeing him have more power. Let him have it. He will discover that he cannot do more things simply because he has more power. Instead he will invite more trouble. It’s a great opportunity to test his ability.”— Antonio Chiang, former deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council

President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) decision to register as the sole candidate for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship late last month has raised concern among some political observers over the expansion of his power.

The melodrama began last year when speculation surfaced that Ma intended to take over the party leadership to tighten his control over KMT legislators and party affairs.

Although he and KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) were equally tight-lipped about his intention, Ma said during a TV interview earlier last month that it would be easier for him to push policies through if he were the party chairman. After speculation mounted over a power struggle between the two, Ma and Wu decided to hold a joint press conference to explain the issue days earlier than they had planned.

George Liu (劉志聰), a researcher at the Center for Peace and Strategic Studies, expressed concern over the possible conflict between Ma’s two roles, saying the president’s job was to serve public interest, while the party chairman’s job was to promote party interests.

Liu said Ma’s motive was clear: to expand his power. When Ma becomes a “super strongman” who has the final say on the affairs of the party, government, military and intelligence, the legislature will find it hard to keep him in check, he said.

The role of the legislature is bound to weaken and become no more than a rubber stamp for the administration, Liu said, adding that although former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at one time also doubled as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman, the DPP was never a majority in the legislature.

As the KMT chairman, Ma could use the communication channel between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to compel the party and the legislature to toe the line, especially in cross-strait policies, Liu said.

Some have speculated that Ma might attend the KMT-CCP forum and meet his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), in his capacity as KMT chairman. Liu, however, said the meeting would not happen any time soon.

It was more likely to happen in 2012 if Ma wins the presidential reelection and before Hu steps down, Liu said, because Beijing is watching whether Ma would continue “to behave.”

Ma must also make sure that his China-friendly policies do not drive away any potential voters in the next election, Liu observed.

Ma’s decision to double as party chairman, however, was not surprising, Liu added, because it was an overt attempt to remove the roadblocks on his way to a second term as he realized party infighting would only undermine his leadership.

Nanhua University professor Wang Szu-wei (王思為) said Ma’s taking over the helm of the KMT poses risks for the country.

RISKS

First, Ma would seize control of the legislature and further undermine the power of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平). Even People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has sensed this threat, Wang Szu-wei said, noting Soong’s recent visit to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), possibly to seek an alliance.

Second, Ma would reclaim control over cross-strait policies, especially from the hands of party heavyweights such as former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), outgoing KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung and Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), Wang Szu-wei said.

As party chairman, Wang Szu-wei said Ma would hold the right to nominate candidates for elections at all levels, especially after the redrawing of administrative zones following the mergers or upgrade of counties and cities.

With this power in hand, Ma could do a house cleaning to silence his opponents within the party, Wang Szu-wei said.

Ma is also likely to use the KMT’s legislative majority to amend the Constitution, which could take the country down an irreversible path, he said. If this becomes a reality, other things such as whether the KMT-CCP forum would continue or whether Ma would meet Hu would become secondary, he said.

Wang Szu-wei said Ma’s pledges should be taken with a grain of salt because most of them had not stood the test of time.

While registering as the candidate for party chairman, Ma promised to dispose of dubious party assets and rely on fund-raising to finance future campaigns. He also promised to nominate honest and clean party members for public offices.

However, Ma has broken his promise that he would not double as party chairman. He now insists that he would be taking on the party chairmanship not to expand his power but because he has to shoulder “a new historic responsibility.”

Ma has also defined the party’s decision-making body, the Central Standing Committee, as a communication platform, saying he would continue the KMT-CCP forum.

Antonio Chiang (江春男), former deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council and former editor-in-chief of the Taipei Times, said he welcomed Ma’s decision to take over the KMT chairmanship, as Ma would no longer have anyone to blame for his failures.

BACKBONE

Chiang said he was not worried that Ma would become a political “strongman” because to be one, that person must possess great abilities and the courage to shoulder all responsibilities.

He said he doubted Ma had such abilities and backbone.

“He might have some potential, but before he does anything, we don’t know for sure,” he said.

Even if Ma were to become a “strongman,” Chiang said he would be held in check as long as there is a system of checks and balances in place.

Chiang said he did not think it was a big deal that Ma had broken his promise of not doubling as party chairman, because most politicians lie. Ma had said on numerous occasions that he would not stand in the Taipei mayoral election, but he eventually did, Chiang said.

Chen also doubled as DPP chairman, Chiang said, but he later found out that it was not what he had expected.

Ma might end up in the same situation, Chiang said.

“I don’t have any problem seeing him have more power,” Chiang said.

“Let him have it. He will discover that he cannot do more things simply because he has more power. Instead he will invite more trouble. It’s a great opportunity to test his ability,” he said.

The legislature would not be as easy to manage as Ma might think, Chiang added, because legislators have their own interests in mind.

Chiang said he would like to think that Ma’s goal was to reform the century-old party, an ambitious task not even former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Lee dared to take on.

Ma’s biggest problem is that he was never closely connected with the party and his election victories were secured by distancing himself from the KMT, Chiang said.

The party might benefit more from Ma than the other way around, he said, but Ma seemed determined to undertake this challenge, so he must hand it to him.

Chiang, however, said that Ma would become an easier target for criticism because he is wading into water over his head.

Ma has the option to interfere in judiciary
　

By Chiang Ya-chi 江雅綺
Sunday, Jul 05, 2009, Page 8

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) wrote a letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from the Taipei Detention Center last month, imploring him to help remove the overseas travel restrictions placed on his daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤). In response to the letter, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that not commenting on individual judicial cases has always been the office’s stance and that it is impossible for Ma to interfere in any judicial decision.

Wang said that the president, with his supreme administrative power, has to act with caution and without interfering in judicial power. I certainly agree with this spirit and principle 100 percent.

However, the Constitution allows interaction between administrative and judicial powers. Ma can “interfere” in several ways.

At the level of direct judicial interference, the president has the power to grant pardons. This is a typical example of how the president can use his executive power to intervene in socially or politically controversial cases. It is a presidential right that needs neither the legislature’s consent nor the Judicial Yuan’s endorsement.

There are two kinds of past examples. The descendants of key officials who have made extraordinary contributions to Taiwan — the murderer Huang Hsiao-hsien (黃效先), for example, was pardoned by dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) thanks to the great achievements of Huang’s father General Huang Pai-tao (黃百韜). Political prisoners or prisoners of conscience who commit crimes for “good causes” — those who refuse to perform their military service because of religious beliefs, labor activists, or people such as “rice bomber” Yang Ju-men (楊儒門).

In addition, the president has the power to grant amnesties and the remission of sentences for specific types of cases. Pardons are for individual cases, but amnesties and remission of sentences are for specific types of crimes with broader implications and they can only be implemented with the approval of the Cabinet and the legislature.

Next, the president can interfere with the ongoing creation of legislation through his power to appoint judicial personnel. He can nominate the Judicial Yuan president and grand justices, all important judicial leaders. Grand justices interpret the Constitution and these interpretations control how the law is applied.

US presidents often attempt to create a legal environment favorable to themselves through the nomination of justices. Although they do not necessarily always get what they want, they can at least secure the legal basis of their policies by nominating judicial personnel who share their stance.

Taiwan’s president is endowed with the same constitutional power and there is no need to hide the fact that all presidents have the same idea.

Finally, there is judicial reform policy and legislation. Ma will now serve concurrently as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, the nation’s highest administrative leader and the leader of the largest party in the legislature. He can, through the Ministry of Justice, demand that the ethics of the prosecutorial system be corrected and that corrupt and unethical judicial personnel be arrested. He can also push legislation on judicial reform through the legislature.

The president can interfere with the judiciary based on the Constitution, because the separation of powers were intended to make it possible to balance judicial power with administrative power. Particularly on the policy and legislative level, I hope the president will interfere with the judiciary more frequently in order to advance the judicial system.

Chiang Ya-chi is a doctoral student at the University of Leeds’ School of Law.