Liu resigns, Wu Den-yih to replace him
　

SHUFFLING OFF STAGE: The premier said someone needed to take political responsibility for the loss of lives during Morakot, while the DPP criticized his successor
　

By Flora Wang and Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTERS
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 1
　

“He [Ma Ying-jeou] is staying in an air-conditioned room. He should come down here to see things for himself. They clean the streets before he comes, but it is superficial.”— a typhoon victim

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) took everyone by surprise yesterday afternoon by announcing that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had accepted his resignation.

Liu will lead the Cabinet in resigning during the Executive Yuan’s weekly meeting on Thursday, Liu told a 4:30pm press conference.

Shortly after his announcement, the Presidential Office said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General and Vice Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) would replace Liu, while Taoyuan County Commissioner and KMT Vice Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) would become vice premier.

“So many people died [in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot]. I believe someone should shoulder the political responsibility,” Liu said.

“As premier, I should take full responsibility, so I tendered my resignation in the middle of August,” he said.

Liu said Ma wanted him to stay on, but he was determined to step down, adding that he had only agreed to stay on temporarily to preside over the beginning of reconstruction work.

Liu said that between 80 percent and 90 percent of Morakot victims had received stipends from the government, while 92 percent had been temporarily relocated to military camps or government dormitories.

The legislature also passed the Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Special Act (莫拉克颱風災後重建特別條例) and the Executive Yuan has submitted the related budget request to the legislature, Liu said.

“I have completed my mission for now. It’s time for me to leave,” Liu said.
　

“As the highest-ranking government official in the nation, I should shoulder all political responsibility, so I tendered my resignation again. The president finally approved it,” he said.

Ma had supported him and they discussed the matter until late last night, he said.

Liu also apologized to Ma and the public for the performance of the Executive Yuan during the disaster.

“Many things should have been done better,” he said.

He thanked Ma, Cabinet officials, the various civic groups involved in disaster relief efforts and religious leaders.

“God bless the Republic of China. God bless the Taiwanese people,” Liu said.

Speaking shortly after Liu’s press conference, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma met Liu on Sunday night and thanked him for his contributions over the past year.

The president also told Wu and Chu that they did not have the choice of rejecting the offer to serve the nation at such a critical time, Wang said.

Ma would finalize the new Cabinet with Wu “in a few days,” Wang said.

Wang said Ma and Liu had agreed last month that Liu would take responsibility for the disaster early this month and that Liu again offered to resign on Saturday after he returned from Kaohsiung, where he had been staying with some Cabinet officials to gain first-hand information on the disaster situation and relief work.

Ma began to ask about Wu’s interest in the premiership last Thursday and Chu’s interest in the vice premiership on Friday, Wang said, adding that the final decision was the president’s alone. Asked whether their appointments were related to the year-end elections, Wang said both men were chosen for their abilities and extensive political experience.

Chu’s term as county commisser was scheduled to end in December, Wang said, while Wu has served as Nantou County commissioner and Kaohsiung mayor.

Wang also praised Wu’s experience in party and administrative affairs, adding that Wu and Ma were “old friends” who understood each other very well.

Chu was an outstanding young talent, Wang said.

Faced with such a “tough task,” Wu told reporters that he hoped to continue the work of Liu’s team to improve the economy. He also said he would step down from his two KMT posts.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus praised Liu and his Cabinet for resigning, but expressed surprise at Wu’s appointment.

DPP lawmakers, who watched the Presidential Office’s announcement of Wu’s appointment on TV, lauded Liu’s resignation and said Ma was truly one of the world’s “gutsiest” leaders, as he has been described by the US satirical magazine, mental_floss.

“It was a day full of surprises,” the lawmakers said.

DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said Liu resigned because he had listened to the public, adding that he hoped the new Cabinet would be more efficient.

DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) gave Liu credit for taking political responsibility and stepping down.

Liu’s resignation was in line with public opinion because many people were dissatisfied with the Cabinet’s performance, Huang said.

DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), however, said Liu should have resigned earlier, adding that Ma had only approved Liu’s resignation because public feeling was so overwhelming.

The DPP caucus slammed Wu’s nomination as “unacceptable.”

KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) also lauded Liu for stepping down and gave Wu her best wishes.

Asked if she had any reservations about Wu’s ability to be premier, Lo said: “Ask other members [of the KMT caucus] and you will see.”

She did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, Ma was heckled by a typhoon victim in Pingtung County yesterday. The woman asked that Ma step down if Liu refused to resign to take responsibility for the government’s slow response to Morakot.

Chanting “This man should step down” and holding a banner that read “Why not come for a long stay?” the woman said the government’s relief efforts had embarrassed the country.

“He [Ma] is staying in an air-conditioned room. He should come down here to see things for himself,” she said. “They clean the streets before he comes, but it is superficial.”

The government held a national memorial service for typhoon victims in Kaohsiung yesterday, but one survivor said he could not attend because there was no transportation.

Another woman said she could not go because the engine of her car was gone.

In related news, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in Japan yesterday that many Japanese friends had given him donations for Morakot victims because they didn’t know how or where to send the money.

Meanwhile, representative to Japan John Feng (馮寄台) declined to comment yesterday on why he was in Europe at the height of the disaster.

Hong Kong journalists protest police violence against colleagues in Urumqi

AP , HONG KONG
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 1

About 40 Hong Kong journalists held a rare protest yesterday after reports that Chinese police beat up and detained their colleagues who were covering ethnic unrest in western China.

They crowded up against the gates of the Chinese government’s liaison office, chanting, “Violence against reporters is shameful.”

The protesters accused the Chinese government of clamping down on Hong Kong journalists in recent days. Broadcaster TVB says military police in Urumqi on Friday shoved one of its reporters and cameramen to the ground, kicked and punched the reporter and tied up both of them.

Radio RTHK says Urumqi police detained two of its journalists and three other Hong Kong reporters on Sunday for about half an hour before releasing them and telling them the incident was a “misunderstanding.”

The journalists were covering the aftermath of a mass protest by Han Chinese in Urumqi after a string of needle attacks that Beijing blames on Muslim separatists.

“We don’t expect police to protect us. We can take care of ourselves. Just don’t get in our way,” Hong Kong Journalists Association chairwoman Mak Yin-ting (麥燕婷) said.

Hong Kong officials have expressed support for the journalists, who have complained of mistreatment in China before.

“Hong Kong is very concerned about freedom of press and the free flow of information. These are core values for us,” Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee (李少光) said on Sunday, adding the government had contacted Chinese officials about the alleged police abuse.

Taiwanese Falun Gong criticize Hong Kong court ruling
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 2

Five Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners yesterday criticized a Hong Kong court for giving in to pressure from Chinese authorities.

In a legal battle that has lasted for more than six years, the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong on Friday dismissed their appeal of a ruling in their case against Hong Kong’s Immigration Department.

The case stems from an incident in February 2003 in which Hong Kong immigration authorities refused entry to more than 80 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners at Hong Kong International Airport. The Taiwanese had valid visas and were on their way to attend a conference.

BELIEFS

Following the incident, four of the practitioners filed a court complaint arguing they had been denied entry based solely on their beliefs. A fifth practitioner later joined the complaint.

The immigration authority denied that the Taiwanese travelers were turned away because of their Falun Gong affiliation, claiming they posed a threat to national security.

Theresa Chu (朱婉琪), one of the five appellants and a lawyer, who also represented the group in court, yesterday called the ruling by the appeals court “strange” and “unjust.”

At a press conference in Taipei, Chu said that in the more than 90-page long ruling, the judges devoted 60 pages to criticizing the immigration department, and by extension the Hong Kong government, for breaching the principle of “candor,” a legal duty by which the government must not purposely mislead the court or obstruct its proceedings by withholding key information.

“If you just read the 60 pages where the judges criticize the Hong Kong government, you would think the court ruled in our favor — but it didn’t,” Chu said.

COURAGE

The court lacked the courage to make a ruling free from political pressure, she said.

Chu said the case was full of contradictions and loopholes.

In 2005, two immigration officers questioned as witnesses said the Falun Gong practitioners were sent back to Taiwan for “national security” reasons, but refused to provide documents related to the incident.

After the court ordered the immigration department to provide the documents, the department said all documents and records related to the appellants had been destroyed just weeks after the 2003 incident.

Chu said this was just one of many instances in which the department seems to have misled or lied to the court.

Chinese authorities already control Hong Kong’s administrative and legislative branches, Chu said.

Now “even the judicial system, the last frontier, has been compromised.”

Chen could receive stiff sentence if convicted: experts
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 3

Legal experts said yesterday the outlook was bleak for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his co-defendants in the former first family's money laundering and corruption trial.

A judge with experience presiding over corruption cases said the chances of Chen receiving a heavy sentence, if convicted, was quite high given the large amount of money he and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), allegedly pocketed.

Other public servants accused of corruption, if convicted, could also receive heavy sentences because precedent rulings showed that even those convicted of embezzling small amounts of money received sentences of at least eight years, the judge said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

This would include the two former presidential aides, former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) and former deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), who have been accused of inappropriately reimbursing the former first family for personal expenses taken out of the president's “state affairs fund.”

Former Hsinchu Science Park chief James Lee (李界木), who is also a co-defendant in Chen's trial and has been charged with taking kickbacks from a government land deal in Longtan (龍潭), Taoyuan County, is also on the list of former civil service employees who may receive heavy sentences.

As for the former president's detention, Chen Shui-bian's court-appointed attorney, Tseng Te-rong (曾德榮), said if the detention hearing is held by the district court, it is doubtful that Chen would be released.

Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓), the district court judge presiding over Chen's trial, has repeatedly ruled to keep Chen detained.

Tsai replaced Chou Chan-chun (周占春) as judge in December. Chou had twice ruled against detaining Chen. The switching of judges was controversial, with some claiming it was politically motivated and violated judicial procedures.

The former president has been incarcerated at the Taipei Detention Center since Dec. 30 on charges of embezzling public funds, money laundering, accepting bribes on a land deal, influence peddling and forgery.

The district court will announce its verdict on Friday.

Impact of Dalai Lama's visit limited: SEF chief
　

'BACK TO NORMAL': Saying Beijing had shown restraint during the Dalai Lama's visit, Chiang Pin-kung said he hoped the impact of the visit would soon taper off
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 3

The nation’s top cross-strait negotiator said yesterday that cross-strait relations would gradually return to normal after Beijing said the visit to Taiwan of the Dalai Lama would have a negative impact on cross-strait ties.

Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), who left for Japan yesterday to attend a Taiwan-Japan economic forum, said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport he hoped the impact of the visit of the spiritual leader would soon taper off.

ACHIEVEMENTS

“It has been an important policy of the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] government since it returned to power last year to improve cross-strait relations,” he said. “Over the past year, many achievements have been made and they have had a positive effect on Taiwan’s economy and cross-strait ties.”

Chiang said Beijing appeared to have done its best to restrain itself regarding the visit of the Dalai Lama. Although there was criticism, Chiang said, Beijing did not wish to see any major changes in cross-strait relations.

As time passes, things should return to normal, he said.

MEETING

Asked whether the Dalai Lama’s visit would have a negative impact on the upcoming high-level cross-strait talks between him and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), Chiang said both sides have discussed the issues set for the meeting as scheduled.

The fourth round of Chiang-Chen meetings is expected to be held in Taiwan later this year. Among the issues the two sides intend to address are fishing industry cooperation, agricultural products quality checks, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification, and the prevention of double taxation.

PRAYER

Amid the crisis caused by Typhoon Morakot, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and six other local government chiefs governed by the Democratic Progressive Party invited the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan and pray for the victims and survivors.

Ma approved the Buddhist leader’s visit on Aug. 26, saying the decision was based on religious and humanitarian considerations. The Dalai Lama arrived on Aug. 31 and left on Friday.

The visit sparked a war of words between the KMT and DPP. While the KMT criticized the DPP for pulling a “political stunt,” the DPP argued that the visit was purely religious and humanitarian.

Ma no longer ruler of his domain

Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 8

No sooner had Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama left Taiwan than senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials were breathing a sigh of relief, as if an undesirable guest had forced himself upon an otherwise placid household.

That reaction would have been understandable if, say, it had been hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden passing through Taiwan, but the Dalai Lama, a proponent of peaceful resistance and icon for universal values of freedom and liberty?

This is not to say that other countries that have welcomed the Tibetan leader have not also felt a certain sense of relief after the charismatic monk had left, especially when Beijing launched rhetorical volleys and threatened retaliation. This notwithstanding, the reaction of those countries was to play down Beijing’s threats while embracing the Dalai Lama’s visit and portraying it as a positive thing.

What the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration did, however, went one step beyond minimizing the crisis: It showed disrespect to a man of peace, while portraying the visit as a political gambit by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as if only pro-independence “troublemakers” were capable of looking up to the Dalai Lama or agreeing with what he stands for. That some media would refer to the visit as an “invitation of the leading opposition [DPP], which favors Taiwan independence from the mainland” only exacerbated this perception.

Ma, members of his doomed Cabinet and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) went out of their way to avoid the Dalai Lama, not because they fundamentally disagree with what he stands for, but rather because their pro-China policies have put them in a straightjacket. Wang’s avoidance was more adroit, in that he left it to “fate” to decide whether his and the Dalai Lama’s paths would cross while the spiritual leader was in Taiwan, but in the end, the chairman of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy stayed away from a prominent global voice for democracy.

The Dalai Lama was allowed to come to Taiwan because the Ma administration was under siege over its poor handling of Typhoon Morakot. He came, Ma and the KMT crossed their fingers, sent an emissary to Beijing to repair the damage, and the moment the monk departed they acted as if nothing had happened. By yesterday, Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) — the man in charge of cross-strait talks — was saying that “ties [between Taiwan and China] will be able to return to the right track in a slow manner.”

In other words, the visit by a peaceful activist was “disruptive” and something negative. At the very least, it was an unexpected bump in the road for what, in their eyes at least, are far more important matters.

There was a time when Beijing’s intimidation applied to Taiwan abroad if Taipei sought to expand diplomatically, gain entry to international organizations, or when former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sought to visit countries that were not diplomatic allies. By adopting an obsequious approach to cross-strait relations from the beginning, the Ma administration has allowed Beijing to bully Taiwanese on their own soil, forcing the president and top government officials to avoid the Dalai Lama as if he were persona non grata.

Not only did this humiliate a great man of peace, but it also widened the divide between the KMT, the government and the public, while falsely projecting the image abroad that only DPP supporters and “splittists” delighted in having the exiled spiritual leader grace our shores.

Ma looks to his father and betrays the Chiangs
　

By James Wang 王景弘
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2009, Page 8

‘Under Ma, Taiwan has become a region of China.’

In democratic politics, major national policies are established based on public opinion. Only autocratic, dictatorial and non-democratic political parties see the will of their deceased leaders as national guidelines in order to secure power.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was skyrocketed into his official career under the party-state system and his anti-democratic record is clear for all to see. Although he was elected through a democratic mechanism, he only took public opinion into consideration before the election. Since his election, Ma has showed no signs of considering public opinion. Instead of concerning himself with the opinions of the living, he holds fast to the opinions of the deceased.

Indeed, it is the tradition of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to consider the opinion of previous leaders when ruling the country. Dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) embraced Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) thought, Chiang’s son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) followed his father’s, and even former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was forced to follow Chiang Ching-kuo’s ideas for a while. Now Ma’s turn has come, and he has made the spirit of Chiang Ching-kuo at the mausoleum in Touliao (頭寮), Taoyuan County, part of his political capital. So surely he should insist on following the younger Chiang’s thought.

Although Ma has learned of the beauty of power based on the thought of a deceased leader, he is not following Chiang’s opinions, but those of his late father Ma Ho-ling (馬鶴凌): Dissolution of the independence movement and a gradual slide toward unification with China, followed by eventual unification. Mid-level party hack Ma Ho-ling’s will has overridden the will of the two Chiangs.

To Taiwanese, the perspectives of the two dictators were not entirely terrifying. The elder Chiang called for the implementation of the Three Principles of the People, retaking China, the revitalization of Chinese culture and defending democracy. His son carried on the heritage by demanding that the government and the public be determined to fight the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and recover China. He also urged soldiers and civilians to accelerate the restoration of China and reunification under the principles and the guidance of the late president’s instructions.

Key anti-CCP slogans such as “recover the mainland” were the tools the KMT used to resist democratization. Even Lee was surprised that he had to promote unification with China along these lines in the early days of his rule.

Although these slogans did not win over everyone, they ensured that Taiwan would not be sold out to the CCP and that at least Taiwanese would be free of the fear of being controlled by yet another foreign regime and a different system.

Ruling a country based on the will of a deceased leader runs counter to democratic principles. Ma has strayed even further by betraying the premise for unification according to the Chiangs and instead following his father’s line of thought. Not only has he failed to defend democracy, he has crawled into the pitfall of communist dictatorship. Under Ma, Taiwan has become a region of China. The Chiang family is detestable, but the Ma family’s attempts to sell out Taiwan are even more dangerous.

James Wang is a media commentator.