Chen files suit against SIP prosecutors
　

ABUSED AUTHORITY? : The former president accused four prosecutors of violating procedures while questioning defendants and of extortion, solicitation and forgery
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 20, 2009, Page 1

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a lawsuit against four prosecutors of the Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing them of violating judicial neutrality while handling his pre-trial hearing.

Chen accused the four prosecutors — Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), Lee Hai-lung (李海龍) and Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) — of abusing their authority while questioning defendants and witnesses and of extortion, solicitation and forgery.

“The SIP prosecutors abused their right to arrest Chen despite his innocence and to negotiate with Jeffrey Koo Jr [辜仲諒] in Japan although he is guilty,” Chen’s office said in a written statement.

Chen’s office said that prosecutors had detained him by soliciting the help of the former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman after negotiations that allowed Koo to return to Taiwan a free man despite being a fugitive.

The office accused prosecutors of colluding with Koo to have him lie in his oral statement and later sign a transcription of his oral responses that deviated from what he had said.

Chen’s office called on the prosecutors to come clean over whether they had struck a deal with Koo to get him to testify.

The prosecutors should also explain their claim that former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and former Kaohsiung City mayor and vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) had not received money from Chen, even though the two had acknowledged accepting donations from him, Chen’s office said.

The statement accused the prosecutors of violating procedures in questioning defendants and witnesses with the goal of detaining Chen. The four prosecutors had damaged the judiciary’s credibility and should be punished, it said.

Chen has admitted that his wife wired US$20 million abroad from his campaign funds, but says she did so without his knowledge.

SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) yesterday said the former president was free to file a lawsuit.

“I will not comment on this,” he said.

Meanwhile, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed yesterday that Taipei had sought judicial help from Washington in probing Chen Shui-bian and his family.

“Taiwan’s law enforcement authorities have been in touch with US counterparts concerning tracking former president Chen’s funds in the United States,” AIT spokesman Thomas Hodges told AFP.

The US and Taiwan signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement in 2002 that “establishes a mechanism by which US and Taiwan law enforcement authorities may cooperate in obtaining and sharing relevant information and evidence,” he said.

Hodges declined to provide details. Chen Yun-nan also declined to comment.

Chen, Lu want 319 case reopened
　

SECOND LOOK: Five years after the incident, the former president and vice president want the ‘truth’ to be revealed. With the KMT now in power, they hope it will happen
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 20, 2009, Page 3

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday urged the government to reopen the investigation into the 319 shooting incident.

On the fifth anniversary of the shooting yesterday, Chen was quoted by his office spokesman Liu Dao (劉導) as saying that he hoped Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), former convener of a 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee, would reopen the case.

“The KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] is now in power. [Chen] is hoping that Minister Wang can lead the Special Investigation Panel [SIP] to probe the case and prove his innocence,” Liu said yesterday outside the Taipei District Court.

The 319 shooting incident refers to an alleged assassination attempt against Chen and Lu in Tainan on March 19, 2004, one day before the presidential election.

A bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and left a 13cm wound, while another bullet hit Lu in the knee. The authorities later identified the shooter as Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead 10 days after the incident. The pan-blue camp at the time called the incident an election scheme and asked Wang to lead the investigation.

The case was closed by the Tainan Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2005.

Lu yesterday echoed Chen’s call on the government to reopen the case and defended the former president.

“I was with him the whole day when the shooting happened and I swear on my life that Chen Shui-bian did not have the time to fabricate the shooting,” Lu told a press conference at her office.

Liu criticized the SIP for focusing its efforts on investigating corruption scandals involving the former president and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), and called on prosecutors to put more energy into the shooting investigation.

“Prosecutor Yueh Fang-ju [越方如] only asked once about the shooting. He never asked again,” Lu said. “The SIP has become the ‘Bian-Jen’ [扁珍] panel and ignores other cases.”

Lu also challenged the conclusion reached by the committee, which said that only one gunman was involved in the shooting.

The KMT passed a resolution during its Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday asking the Ministry of Justice to put more effort into reopening the investigation of the incident.

KMT spokesman Lee Chien-rong (李建榮) said yesterday that KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) supported reopening the case.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general John Wu (吳志揚) told a separate press conference yesterday that the KMT was responsible for establishing the truth on the incident now that it was in power.

“Minister of Justice Wang used to serve as convener of the [319 Shooting] Truth Investigation Special Committee. She now has greater power in seeking justice and establishing the truth,” he said.
　

Dissident warns Taiwan on China
　

THREATENED: After receiving entry permits to Taiwan, 15 Chinese academics were told by Chinese officials not to attend a conference in Taipei ‘or face the consequences
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 20, 2009, Page 3
　

Yuan Hongbing (袁紅冰), a Chinese democracy activist living in exile in Australia, yesterday warned Taiwanese to beware of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “two-faced” approach to diplomacy.

Yuan made the remarks at a press conference in Taipei after 15 Chinese academics were blocked from leaving the country to take part in a conference on the development of liberalism in China, despite calls for more cross-strait cultural and intellectual exchange by the Chinese leadership.

The five-day conference, organized by Yuan’s Chinese Liberal Culture Movement, National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development, National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Development Studies and numerous other non-governmental organizations in Taiwan, will be held in Taipei starting next Friday.

The 15 academics were reportedly harassed and threatened by Chinese police and state security officials days after receiving their entry permits from the Taiwanese government.

In an e-mail to Yuan, which he displayed at the press conference, one of the academics said police officers had threatened they would have to “face the consequences” if they insisted on attending.

“I’m sorry, but the Ministry of State Security just advised me not to take part [in the conference] and said I would be stopped anyway if I insisted on going and get everybody in trouble,” another academic wrote in an e-mail.

Yuan did not reveal the identity of the academics, for their own security.

“This is just another example of how the CCP regime deprives the Chinese people of their fundamental rights — it’s up to the authorities to decide whether Chinese citizens can attend an international conference,” Yuan said. “It also shows that the CCP’s call for more cross-strait cultural exchanges is fake — it only allows exchanges that will give the CCP a hand in its attempt to take over Taiwan.”

Yuan said he wanted to remind all Taiwanese that the CCP regime is “a group of criminals who have committed crimes against humanity, the biggest group of corrupted officials in human history and a political mafia that rips the most fundamental rights off the Chinese people and practices state terrorism to the extreme.”

“If politicians in Taiwan do not have a clear understanding of the CCP, the democracy of the Republic of China and the future of Taiwanese may one day be in great danger,” he said.

What is the KMT trying to prove?
　

By Lu I-ming 呂一銘
Friday, Mar 20, 2009, Page 8

Voters recently proved the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) wrong after the party mobilized almost two-thirds of its legislators to drum up support for its candidate in a legislative by-election in Miaoli County (苗栗), a traditional KMT stronghold. The KMT still ended up losing the election, which did not come as a surprise to people who see the loss as a warning to the KMT for its inability to review its performance.

This raised the question of whether something similar will happen in the upcoming legislative by-election in Taipei City’s Da-an District (大安) in two weeks’ time and even the three-in-one election at the end of the year. If the KMT starts to lose its political grip, it will have a massive impact on both the party and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

“The sea can carry a boat, but also overturn it.” This ancient Chinese adage is a good reflection of growing voter awareness over the past decade. For example, the transitions of political power in 2000 and last year and the changes in the ratio of government to opposition legislators, mayors and county commissioners in the 2001 and 2005 elections were all the result of voters using their ballots to teach those in power a lesson.

For example, in the 2001 legislative elections, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained 87 seats, making it the legislature’s largest party, while the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) gained 68 and 46 seats, respectively. Of the 23 seats up for grabs in the mayoral and county commissioner elections that year, the DPP and the KMT gained nine seats each, while the newly formed PFP gained two seats and the New Party gained one seat for the first time.

In total, the pan-green camp gained 14 seats, while the pan-blue camp gained only nine, with a transfer of political power taking place in 12 cities and counties, almost half the total number of contested seats. In addition, more than half of the number of candidates running for re-election — eight of 14 — failed in their bid.

This election extended the trend from the 2000 presidential election in that once again voters in the north supported the pan-blue camp, while voters in the south supported the pan-green camp. However, there was a big turnaround in 2005, when pan-blue candidates won office in 17 cities and counties in northern and central Taiwan and on the outlying islands, five of which were formerly headed by DPP mayors and commissioners, while the DPP managed to keep office in just six cities and counties in southern Taiwan.

The overall number of pan-blue votes and pan-blue voter participation increased, while it dropped for the pan-green camp. Although the DPP had been in power for five years at that time, corruption and ethical decadence saw voters lose trust and hope in then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), and they used their votes to give the party a sharp warning. This allowed then-KMT chairman Ma to move into the presidency last year.

Now it is Ma’s turn to govern Taiwan. The majority of KMT members, old and doddering, pay no attention to monitoring by the legislature. They seem to think that playing the anti-Chen card can help cover up their lack of political skill. In addition, the KMT has recently been acting in a thoughtless and shameless manner in the legislature in attempts to arrogate power to themselves. Examples of such acts can be seen from its slackness in pushing for sunshine legislation and the way in which the party is trying to expand its power by amending the ­Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Act (電腦處理個人資料保護法).

This has resulted in dropping political performance, increasing unemployment levels and tough times for the public. These are crucial factors contributing to the KMT’s loss in the Miaoli by-election.

Kang Shih-ju (康世儒), the winner of the Miaoli legislative by-election, who had quit the KMT to run as an independent and is well known for his commitment to service, put it well when he said: “This by-­election shows us that the people of Miaoli have a more mature understanding of democracy and it encourages the younger generation to stand up and take an interest in public affairs.” This is enough to show that voters are aware of what is happening.

Small changes often reveal a general trend for future ­developments and the KMT cannot afford to dismiss the changes that have started to occur in the hearts of voters and what they hope for. However, the KMT’s first reaction to the Miaoli loss was that “we did not try hard enough.”

They also blamed the poor economy and their candidate’s lack of charisma, showing us that the party not only fails to see the forest for the trees, but also that it has its head in the sand.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) maintained a straight face and actually told a press conference that “legislative elections are local in nature and you should not exaggerate the impact of his loss on President Ma,” while other senior members of the KMT have said they will mobilize all party members to “annihilate” any chance former premier and former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) might have in the elections for Taipei County commissioner.

What is the KMT trying to prove by such arrogance? Is it trying to test the patience of voters? The legislative by-­election in Taipei’s Da-an District may not necessarily repeat the result in Miaoli, but if the heightened awareness of voters brings the KMT another loss, it would not be an accident. Rather, it would be a warning from voters that the KMT must reassess its inability to examine itself and its mistakes.

Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of the Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.

The road ahead for ROC military
　

By Alexander Huang 黃介正
Friday, Mar 20, 2009, Page 8

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) rolled out Taiwan’s first Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) on Monday in accordance with an amendment to the National Defense Act (國防法). With relations across the Taiwan Strait warming and calls for peace growing, this forward-looking strategy document has come at the right time.

The ministry had previously published its National Defense Report every two years to keep the general public informed of what was being done to support the country’s defense. The new QDR, modeled on the US Department of Defense’s quadrennial study, highlights the president’s defense planning guidelines and notifies the legislature of the ministry’s plans for the next four years. The Legislative Yuan now has a new reference document at hand to help it better oversee defense and budget planning during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) first term.

Taiwan’s first QDR has two main themes: prevention and transformation.

The overall modernization of the nation’s defense is necessary to prevent military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, while transformation of defense is necessary to enable the military to deal with the changing nature of modern warfare, advanced weapons systems, demographic change, an aging society and limited financial resources.

For prevention, the Ma administration does not rely solely on modernizing and building up its forces, but also strives for manageable cross-strait relations and closer defense collaboration with friends and allies in the Asia-Pacific region. Shaping a peaceful environment by using a defensive strategy, Taiwan intends to adopt a combination of political, diplomatic and military confidence-building measures to minimize the threat of military conflict so that the country can earn precious time to focus more on revitalizing the economy and transforming the military.

For transformation, the ministry emphasizes reorganization, force restructuring and the need for joint action. The most ambitious reform program is changing the nearly 60-year-old conscription system to an all-­volunteer force capable of meeting the future demands of high-tech warfare. By also cutting 60,000 personnel and integrating the military police, reserve force and joint logistics commands over the next four years, the Taiwanese military intends to build a smaller, elite force with joint combat capability.

Some may be concerned that aspects of the transformation roadmap laid out in the QDR, especially the all-volunteer force structure, are too complex to be smoothly implemented. However, defense reform will be much more difficult if tensions across the Taiwan Strait are high.

On defense planning, the ministry says that the existing “10-year military development” and “five-year force planning” programs will be governed by the QDR, giving clear directions and criteria for planning and programming. This will provide lawmakers with a better long-term understanding for use in parliamentary oversight, in addition to the annual government report delivered by the premier.

The QDR said the Taiwanese military would maintain its long-standing military strategic guideline of “resolute defense and effective deterrence.” Even with the political detente across the Taiwan Strait, the ministry remains committed to modernization of the military, targeting key joint capabilities through doctrinal refinement, professional military education reform and intelligent procurement. The QDR did not fully adopt the “porcupine” concept recommended by some US officials, but maintains the doctrine of keeping invasion forces from landing in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese military is encountering tremendous challenges from outside and within: the rapid buildup of the People’s Liberation Army, the encouraging but not guaranteed security assistance from democratic allies, difficulties in locating suppliers for the replacement of obsolete systems, the emerging expectations for peace during a time of economic hardship and domestic voices against military investment based on the assumption that peace can be reached only by “soft power.”

Nevertheless, the QDR tries to rally parliamentary and public support of the armed forces as an essential part of Taiwan’s “smart power.”

With the release of Taiwan’s first QDR, the ministry should now begin to work with local and international experts to formulate policy and programs and to explore monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure the guidelines provided in this strategy document can be best translated into effective deliverables.

Alexander Huang is professor of strategy and wargaming at Tamkang University.