TYC groups are not terrorists: Tibetans
　

NO OPPRESSION: The TYC released a booklet to rebut reports from Beijing that called it a terrorist group and that the Dalai Lama was behind violent uprisings

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 2

The Regional Tibetan Youth Congress’ (RTYC) Taiwan chapter yesterday rebutted Chinese government allegations that it was a terrorist organization and that the Dalai Lama was behind uprisings in Tibet last year.

“China has oppressed Tibetan religion and culture since the very beginning [of its occupation of Tibet] and I cannot count how many lies they have told about the situation in Tibet,” RTYC Taiwan chairman Tashi Tsering told a news conference in Taipei, during which a booklet was released to counter China’s allegations on the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), its regional branches and the Tibetan movement in general.

Before the news conference began, Tashi sealed his mouth with tape, a gesture to symbolize Chinese oppression and efforts to stop Tibetans from telling the truth. Tashi removed the tape to show that Tibetans will no longer remain silent.

“We’ve tolerated it for much too long, we want to break the silence now,” Tashi said. “We Tibetans can proudly say that China may oppress us with weapons, but they cannot oppress our thoughts and our pursuit of independence.”

The booklet, titled Response: The Response to Communist Party of China’s Allegations, was published by the TYC headquarters in Dharamsala, India, and was translated by RTYC Taiwan earlier this month.

The pamphlet addresses allegations from China that Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was behind violent uprisings in Lhasa last year, and that the TYC was a terrorist organization.

Last year, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency accused the TYC of trying to smuggle a guerrilla fighter into China-controlled Tibet.

“Before you [China] call us a terrorist group, you’re more than welcome to come visit us and see it for yourself,” Tashi said. “We never tried to hide from anybody — our headquarters is located in Dharamsala, India, it’s open and transparent, we make our decisions through an open and transparent democratic process.”

Tashi said that the Indian government would have cracked down on the TYC a long time ago if it were a terrorist group.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) showed the conference investigation reports released by UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture, which said that many female political prisoners in China suffered sexual abuse with stun guns or forced abortions in prison.

Tien said that while Tibetans in Tibet under Chinese rule may appear to be free, “freedom at others’ mercy is not true freedom.”

Tibetans and Tibet activists in Taiwan will stage a parade in support of the Tibetan cause today. The parade will depart from Exit 2 of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station at 2pm.

Women's group calls for end to anti-adultery law
　

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 2

The government should work more at preventing bad marriages rather than wasting resources by penalizing adulterers, women rights advocates said yesterday.

The government’s refusal to decriminalize adultery is unfair and discriminatory to women, they said.

Awakening Foundation chairwoman Fan Yun (范雲) said adultery should be resolved by the couple in question and the government had no right to meddle with personal problems in the bedroom.

Taiwan is one of the few remaining countries in the world where extramarital sex can be punished by a heavy fine or a maximum of three years in prison.

“The law might seem like a lifesaver for women with cheating husbands, but in reality, it only restricts women’s right to break free from an awful marriage,” Fan said.

Article 1052 of the Civil Code stipulates that an individual who seeks a divorce must present evidence to show his or her spouse has committed bigamy, engaged in a sexual act with another person, purposefully abandoned the family, has the intention to murder, has been abusive, is chronically ill or missing for more than three years.

Fan said to collect evidence against their husbands, most women hire private investigators to catch their spouse having sex with another person. The process is not only expensive and unreliable, but also puts the women at risk of libel for invasion of privacy.

Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), one of the founding members of the organization, said there have been cases in which the court threw out evidence provided by women because they failed to present an actual condom that contained the bodily fluid of both her husband and his partner.

“Which means even if you have pictures of them naked in bed, it is still useless,” she said.

A recent study conducted by a National Science Council researcher indicated that between 1999 and 2005, 50 percent of the women who sued their spouses for adultery withdrew their lawsuits, while only 23 percent of the husbands dropped charges against their allegedly cheating wives.

“In this society, it is still widely viewed that when a man cheats on his wife, it is nothing serious. But when a wife has an affair, she is a slutty tramp,” said Yu, calling the stereotype unfair and untrue.

By treating adultery as a crime, the government is also taking away an adult’s freedom to engage in consensual sex, National Taiwan University law professor Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如) said.

Prosecutor videos unclear: Chen's office
　

SEE IT ON DVD: A spokeswoman for the former president said that videos provided to them by the prosecution contained evidence of intimidation and manipulation

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 3

Most of the video tapes of prosecutors questioning defendants in the corruption case against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should be inadmissible as evidence, Ketagalan Foundation executive director Sue Wang (王時思) said yesterday.

The poor quality of the recordings and their apparent manipulation by prosecutors means they should not be accepted by the court, she said at a press conference.

Wang, speaking on behalf of Chen’s office, showed a clip of a recording in which voices were either muffled or muted. Wang said the footage also clearly proved that during the interrogation process, prosecutors used intimidation, threats and manipulation to get defendants to comply.

Wang said the office chose to disclose some of the footage yesterday because the court set yesterday as a deadline for Chen’s legal team to provide evidence in rebuttal.

Wang urged the court to extend the date because the office had only thoroughly reviewed less than 50 of the 300 DVDs authorities had given them.

One of the clips showed Special Investigation Panel (SIP) prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) repeatedly asking defendant Tsai Ming-tse (蔡銘哲) to “think carefully about your answers.”

At one point, Chu said to the defendant “I am sincere when I say I would put you down for attempted bribery, but I am afraid that I will have to make sure all the accounts are clearly settled. Therefore at the moment, I am basically giving you a warning.”

During the same session Chu told Tsai: “You should offer up [the information] that I am hinting at. You can say this [money] belongs to [former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍)] or you can say it belongs to you. There is a big difference in significance between the two.”

Wang also showed a clip of a female prosecutor questioning former Kaohsiung City mayor and vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭). The entire session was muted even though the images were clear.

“We are asking the court to restart the hearings without using these videos as evidence,” Wang said, panning the prosecutors for abusing their power during the interrogation process.

Wang said Chen planned to take legal action against some of the prosecutors for coercing witnesses.

Also yesterday, the SIP said Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥) the former first family’s physician, may be put on the wanted list if he does not return to Taiwan for questioning.

Huang was listed as a defendant a week ago for allegedly helping to launder money.

Responding to speculation that the prosecutors’ failure to arrest Huang was because Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) was friends with him, SIP spokesperson Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said: “The [SIP’s] handling of the case complies with legal procedures. There have been no delays.”

Beijing promises to ‘never waver’ on independence
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 3

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) has warned the US that despite improved cross-strait relations, Beijing will never accept Taiwan’s independence.

“I want to stress that no matter how the situation across the Taiwan Strait may evolve, we will never waver in our commitment to the ‘one China’ principle,” he said.

Speaking at a closed-door luncheon at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) immediately before he went to the White House to meet US President Barack Obama, Yang said: “We will never compromise our opposition to Taiwan independence, two Chinas, or one-China, one-Taiwan.”

Sources later said that he repeated his statement during private talks at the White House and that he said almost exactly the same thing earlier in the week to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But in its official reaction to Yang’s four-day visit, Washington omitted all mention of Taiwan.

Yang told CSIS: “We hope that the US side will honor its commitments prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues and take concrete actions to support the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”

“China will continue efforts to bring about new progress in the peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” he said.

The conservative think tank later released a video of the speech.

The Obama administration and the administration of former US president George W. Bush before it have gone out of its way to praise and promote improved relations between Taipei and Beijing under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

But analysts have continually warned that major policies have not changed and that China remains ready to take over Taiwan, by force if necessary.

Yang did not refer to Taiwan in any of his public statements in Washington but said that the primary point of his visit was to prepare for a meeting between Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that will take place early next month in London on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The two leaders are certain to discuss Taiwan at that time and Hu is expected to urge Obama to end arms sales to Taipei.

Following the Oval Office meeting the White House issued a statement saying that the president and foreign minister had discussed “the overall state of the US-China bilateral relationship, emphasizing the desire of both sides to strengthen cooperation and build a positive and constructive US-China relationship.”

Yang said that relations with the US were “at a new starting point and have important opportunities to develop.”

But speaking from Beijing, Hu said that China did not want to be seen as bowing to others.

He said that China would “vigorously advance modernization of national defense and the military” and would “staunchly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and provide a powerful support and assurance for protecting national development interests and broad social stability.”

Legislator not guilty of defaming Ma
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 3

“I can finally breathe. My lawyer told me that I could ask to settle this outside of court if I admitted what I did was a crime, but the court told me that if I confessed to a crime, I would have to be stripped of my public duty as a legislator.”— Yu Tian, Democratic Progressive Party legislator

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Tian (余天) yesterday praised the country’s judicial system after he was found not guilty of defamation for alleging President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his family members possessed US passports.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) filed a lawsuit against Yu last August for his remarks during a campaign rally alleging Ma and his family could flee the country anytime. Yu was charged with defamation with intent to cause Ma to fail in his presidential election bid.

The Banciao District Court on Thursday said that what Yu said was based on reasonable doubt and evidence and that he was “expressing appropriate opinions in connection with public interest or affairs meriting public discussion,” as specified in Article 311 of the Criminal Code (刑法).

Yu yesterday said he was relieved to hear this result.

“I can finally breathe,” he told a press conference. “My lawyer told me that I could ask to settle this out of court if I admitted what I did was a crime, but the court told me that if I confessed to a crime, I would have to be stripped of my public duty as a legislator.”

Upon hearing this, Yu said he decided not to settle. When he heard that the district court found him not guilty, he praised the judicial system.

“Many people say that the judicial system is unfair, but I think in this instance, the law is quite fair,” he said.

At a separate setting yesterday, Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma had already proven that his US green card was invalidated a long time ago, and that he had no US passport.

When asked whether Ma would appeal the case, Wang said the lawsuit was filed by legislators and was a public prosecution. The Presidential Office respected the prosecutors’ authority, he said.

“Yu and the opposition parties have been attacking President Ma with the green card issue, but the truth is he already proved that he had no US passport and that his green card was invalid. It’s very clear,” Wang added.

Lawmaker slammed over Chen Chu gibe
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 14, 2009, Page 4
　

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) yesterday came under fire for his remarks ridiculing Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying that Chen’s minor stroke in 2007 was the result of bad karma after she demolished a statue of former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).

“When the DPP was in power, it dismantled CKS Memorial Hall. What did it get in return? Chen Chu suffered a stroke. This was what we call karma. The CKS Memorial Hall is a shrine … Whoever infringes upon it will meet with disaster,” Lu said on the legislative floor during a question-and-answer session with Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) yesterday.

The former DPP government did not demolish CKS Memorial Hall, instead renaming it National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Chiang’s statue in Kaohsiung City was not demolished, but cut into pieces and shipped in 79 pieces to the Chiang Kai-shek Statue Park in Dasi Township (大溪), Taoyuan County.

Chen was quoted by the Central News Agency yesterday as saying that she refused to dignify Lu’s remarks with any comment, except to say that taking down the statue was the collective will of local residents because the bronze statue stood for totalitarianism.

DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), however, demanded that Lu apologize.

“He is acting immorally by taking a stab at somebody’s health problems,” Chen said. “Anyone would feel hurt if they heard something like that being said about them.”

Implying that Lu may also be punished by karma for making such comments, DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said: “Speaking in an ethical manner is also very important. I think that karma would also have a role to play in matters of ethics.”

When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said Lu should offer an apology to Chen.

“[Lu] should refrain from making comments that start a cycle of reprisals,” Lo said.