Chen
daughter travel request rejected
‘UNIMAGINABLE’: Former president Chen Shui-bian’s daughter had hoped to travel to the US with her three children to study, however prosecutors rejected the request
By Shelley Huang, Mo
Yan-chih and Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTERS
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009, Page 1
District prosecutors yesterday rejected a request from former president Chen
Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), to have her travel restrictions
lifted, ruining her plans to study in the US with her three children.
Prosecutors rejected Chen Hsing-yu’s request “to ensure that the litigation
process goes smoothly,” said Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村), spokesperson for the Taipei
District Prosecutors’ Office.
“If the defendant wishes to do so, she may appeal,” Lin said.
Lin Chih-chung (林志忠), Chen Hsing-yu’s defense attorney, said she would appeal
the decision to the Taipei District Court.
Lin filed a petition with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office requesting
that Chen Hsing-yu’s travel restrictions be lifted so that she could complete
school registration in the US.
Lin Chih-chung relayed Chen Hsing-yu’s message that if prosecutors were
concerned about her laundering money while in the US, she would be willing to
have her passport held by overseas authorities after she entered the country.
Other options she put on the table included leaving one or all of her children
in Taiwan to show her sincerity about coming back to the country after finishing
registration, her lawyer said.
“[Chen Hsing-yu] has been planning to study in the US for two or three years,”
Lin Chih-chung said. “She has already admitted to her [perjury] charges, there
is no reason to keep her here [in Taiwan].”
When Chen Hsing-yu found out that her request had been rejected, she broke down,
he said.
In response, Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said she would not
interfere with individual cases nor would she give any special instructions
regarding the case, adding that authorities would do everything according to the
law.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政), meanwhile, said the
ministry, as well as representative offices and embassies abroad do not have the
right or obligation to keep a person’s passport while they are traveling abroad,
saying such an idea would be “unimaginable.”
Prosecutors placed travel restrictions on Chen Hsing-yu on June 6, three days
after she was charged with giving false testimony during investigations into the
former first family for corruption and money laundering.
She was barred from leaving the country last Tuesday, after she, her husband,
Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), and her brother, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), admitted to
giving false testimony.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) promised to present a
letter from Chen Shui-bian about his daughter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The president, however, would not interfere with the judicial system in response
to Chen Shui-bian’s call to allow his daughter to travel, Chan said before
attending a meeting at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters.
Chan met Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁)
yesterday morning at the Presidential Office. Wu expressed concern about Chen
Shui-bian’s letter to Ma.
In the letter, the former president said barring his daughter from leaving the
country was illegal and unreasonable, and added that his daughter might develop
a mental disorder or try to commit suicide because of the restrictions.
Chan said the Presidential Office had received the letter, and would present it
to the president even though it was unlikely the president would take any
action.
“As far as I understand, the president will not interfere with the judiciary
directly because the establishment of an independent judicial system is not
easy,” Chan said.
Wu also relayed DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) concerns about the custody
system and the government’s respect of human rights during his meeting with
Chan, and presented a written statement on the issues.
Chan said he would give the statement to Ma when the president returns from his
trip to Central America, adding that Ma was still interested in meeting Tsai and
discussing such issues with her face to face.
Commenting on the letter, KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) criticized the former
president, saying that Chen Shui-bian was trying to manipulate his case.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) urged Chen Shui-bian to plead guilty as soon as
possible instead of resorting to all kinds of “tricks” to influence the case.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) criticized the decision by Taipei
prosecutors
“All of Chen’s family is barred from leaving the country. The public believes
they are facing political persecution,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told
a press conference yesterday.
He said the party cared about Chen Hsing-yu and was sympathetic to her cause,
adding the party considered the ban unnecessary.
Chen Hsing-yu was not a major player in the Chen family case. The ban had hit
her seriously and affected her career, and the party hoped prosecutors could
reconsider the decision, the spokesman added.
He said the DPP requested that the government amend the Criminal Procedure Code
soon, limiting the court’s right to detain defendants, particularly before their
trials have begun.
At a separate setting, DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said the DPP caucus had
sympathy for Chen Hsing-yu.
When prosecutors investigated President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over his use of
special allowances during his time as Taipei mayor, prosecutors never summoned
Ma’s daughters for questioning or prohibited them from leaving the country, but
allowed them to stay abroad during the investigation, Lai said, adding
prosecutors treated former president Chen and Ma with different standards.
Parents
spark row over Chen grandson
RESERVATION OF EDUCATION:
Posters on Bo Ai Elementary School’s online bulletin board say they don’t want
their kids to go to the same school as ‘convicts’ children’
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009, Page 3
Bo Ai Elementary School in Taipei said yesterday that it would not discriminate
against any student, although several teachers and parents have voiced
opposition to former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) grandson Chao Yi-an (趙翊安)
being allowed to enroll at the school.
“Any child whose household record is registered within the district of the
school is welcome to attend,” Wang Jen-yu (王壬佑), director-general of the
school’s academic affairs department, told reporters.
“If Chao Yi-an enrolls in the school, the school authorities will ensure that
administrative impartiality is maintained. We also hope that teachers will treat
him the same as other students, without discrimination,” Wang said.
Chao Yi-an is the son of Chen’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), and her husband,
Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘).
School principal Su Tsai-tien (蘇再添) said he respected the right of Chao’s
parents to choose the best school for their son, adding that the school would
welcome Chao Yi-an if his parents decided to bring him there.
The six-year-old Chao Yi-an has reached the minimum school age in accordance
with the National Education Act (國民教育法) and is legally entitled to enroll in the
school.
However, several users of the school’s online message board who identified
themselves as teachers and parents whose children are pupils at the school
voiced objections to the possibility of the boy’s enrollment.
“I have been worried that my child will make friends with bad classmates, but I
feel relieved, because your school will serve as a gatekeeper,” a user with the
screen name “a parent of a student” said.
“Children of corrupt convicts [sic] like Chao Yi-an should not be allowed to
attend the school. I don’t want my child to go to the same school as convicts’
children,” the user said in a message posted last Thursday.
The school has issued a statement saying that it would never discriminate
against students based on their sex or social, economic or political background.
Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday confronted Taipei City
Department of Education officials at the school, saying that Chao Yi-an’s
registration notice had been mailed to the former president instead of his
parents.
“I think you are deliberately giving them a hard time. Why did you send Chao
Yi-an’s registration notice to a person [at the detention center] in Tucheng
[土城]?” Chuang said.
In response, the officials said the notice should have been sent to Chao Yi-an’s
parents, although the school usually mails such documents to the head of a
household.
The officials promised to review the school’s procedure.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said the boy should
be spared the political wrangling of adults.
“Even if [his grandfather] made mistakes, the child is innocent,” Lo said.
DPP head
urges rights watchdogs to support Chen
CALL FOR HELP: The DPP
chairwoman sent a letter to Freedom House, Amnesty International and several
embassies, asking them to support a fair legal system
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009, Page 3
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday
released the contents of a letter she wrote to international human rights groups
requesting their support for former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) judicial
rights.
In the letter, written in English, Tsai casts doubt on the impartiality of the
judiciary, saying “instead of growing public confidence in the government’s
efforts to prosecute official corruption, abuses of the system … are eroding
public credibility in judicial institutions.”
She added that the public was losing faith in the judiciary.
Tsai says that continued detention of the former president “during the
investigation period and trial is sowing the seeds of long-term public unrest
and division,” adding that “we are appealing, therefore, for [former] president
Chen’s human rights to be respected by the judiciary and for his immediate
release.”
Tsai said the investigation against Chen was not an isolated case.
“I am also concerned that many more defendants have been subjected to similar
treatment,” the DPP chairwoman said.
Tsai said that “violations in the confidentiality of the investigation” against
the former president, “and the selective leaking of unverified information
regarding the specifics of the case to politicians and the press further
indicate a failure of law enforcement institutions to protect the rights of the
defendant during the trial process.”
“I have repeatedly urged the government to take seriously the responsibility of
protecting the fundamental rights of the defendant, and to refrain from any
political interference in the judicial process that insults the integrity and
basic rights of our former president. The fairness of president Chen’s trial
will be indicative of Taiwan’s democratic progress, and the Taiwanese people
will not tolerate growing abuses in the system,” the letter adds.
Asking for help from what she refers to as Taiwan’s “international friends,” she
called on “those of you who have stood with us in the past through the more
difficult years of fighting for democracy and freedom in Taiwan to continue to
stand with us as we demand a fair and just legal system.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Department of International Affairs Director
Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said the letter had been forwarded to organizations such as
Freedom House, Amnesty International, the embassies and representative offices
of foreign countries in Taiwan and a number of prominent individuals who care
about Taiwan.
Human
rights in cross-strait ties
By Hong Chi-chang
洪奇昌
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009, Page 8
Last Dec. 10 was the 60th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It also marked the day that Charter 08 was co-signed and released in China by
Chinese dissident and Tiananmen pro-democracy movement veteran Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波)
and more than 300 lawyers, authors, academics and artists.
The signatories also established a Web site that provided people around the
world with a chance to sign the document online.
The Chinese government’s power is based in direct social control and oppression.
From the suppression of the Tibetan independence and the Falun Gong (法輪功)
movements to the recent announcement that all personal computers sold in China
must have the Green Dam Youth Escort software installed, Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) rule is based on this thinking.
This is why the online co-signing of Charter 08 was disrupted from the start and
why it was eventually brought to a sudden end.
Charter 08 calls for a modern political framework that includes adopting
democracy, a federated republic and constitutional government, along with
recognition of the universal values of freedom, equality and human rights.
In Taiwan, the dangwai movement two decades ago and its demands for
democratization and the end of martial law have rendered these concepts natural
and unsurprising.
However, a few days ago, the Chinese government arrested Liu “in accordance with
the law” on the grounds that he had incited the overthrow of the government.
Coincidentally, on almost the same day, Wang Yi (王毅), the director of China’s
Taiwan Affairs Office, was visiting the US and openly and rudely stated in a
meeting with US think tank members that Taiwan was an internal matter for China.
A week earlier, on June 19, Wang told a Taiwanese reporter that cross-strait
relations had started with simpler issues but would move on to more complex
matters, which suggested that political issues will come up in future
cross-strait talks.
During an interview with Singaporean media early last month, President Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九) also said that if he were reelected in 2012, he would “not rule out
cross-strait talks touching on political issues” in those cases “where there is
an urgent need for talks.”
It is frightening to compare what Chinese officials have said about the
situation in the Taiwan Strait and the Chinese government’s suppression of
Charter 08 with what Taiwan’s government has said and done on cross-strait
issues following talks with the CCP.
Cross-strait talks can and should be held. However, a consensus between the
ruling and opposition parties and public opinion cannot be downplayed.
Now that Wang is claiming that Taiwan is China’s internal concern, Ma’s
preference for realism and “mutual non-denial” at the second meeting between
Chinese and Taiwanese representatives in November last year has become wishful
thinking
Prior to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre last month, US
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met 10 activists from the Chinese
democracy movement because of her concern for human rights.
In recent years, human rights groups and influential individuals from around the
world have urged China to pay more attention to human rights and release
political dissidents.
The Chinese authorities, however, are exploiting the nation’s growing economic
power to have others ignore these issues.
Taiwan has a Constitution that guarantees human rights, freedom, democracy and
the rule of law.
We also have many culturally creative people, and people with brave and daring
ideas. In engaging China, we should be confident and proud of these things, and
the government should draw a line it is not willing to go beyond.
The Chinese who drafted and co-signed Charter 08 include non-governmental elites
and prominent spiritual leaders who represent a rational and passionate voice
for freedom, democracy and human rights and the hope that the government of
China, not just its infrastructure, can modernize.
Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉), an assistant research fellow at the Preparatory Office of
the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, recently said that if the
ideals of the pan-green camp can one day be embraced by the more advanced and
forward-looking members of Chinese society, the pan-green camp would then be
able to directly influence every aspect of cross-strait relations.
Everything must be taken step by step. I do not just hope that the 23 million
Taiwanese will continue to progress, but also that one day the 1.3 billion
Chinese will be able to enjoy democracy, freedom and human rights.
Hong Chi-chang is a former chairman of
the Straits Exchange Foundation and a former DPP legislator.