Bill Clinton brings freed journalists home to US
　

PYONGYANG PARDON: Laura Ling thanked Clinton and his ‘supercool team’ for securing their release and said they had feared they were being moved to a labor camp

REUTERS AND AFP, LOS ANGELES AND WASHINGTON
Thursday, Aug 06, 2009, Page 1
　

Two US journalists freed by North Korea after months of detention returned home to a tearful family reunion yesterday accompanied by former US president Bill Clinton, who secured their release in a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Laura Ling (凌志美), 32, and Euna Lee, 36, reporters for a US cable television venture co-founded by former US vice president Al Gore, arrived with Clinton at Burbank airport near Los Angeles aboard a private jet from North Korea.

The two Current TV journalists were arrested on March 17 for illegally crossing into the North from China and had been reporting on the trafficking of women. They were both sentenced to 12 years’ ‘hard labor in June.

Ling raised her arms in the air as the two women descended from the plane for a tearful reunion with their families inside the airport hangar.

Ling thanked Clinton and his “supercool team” for winning the pair’s release and said she feared before seeing him she was being taken to a hard labor camp.
　

“Thirty hours ago Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea,” Ling told hundreds of reporters gathering in the hanger.

“We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us president Bill Clinton.”

“We knew the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end,” she said.

Ling thanked all those, known and unknown, who had campaigned for their release: “We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. It is what kept us going in the darkest hours.”

Clinton was received with a round of applause and an embrace from Gore.

In Washington, US President Barack Obama said he was “extraordinarily relieved” at Lee and Ling’s return. He said he had already spoken to Clinton.

“I want to thank President Bill Clinton — I had a chance to talk to him — for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists,” Obama said.

US officials said North Korea was not promised any rewards for their release and there was no link to nuclear non-proliferation talks.

Clinton’s wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, she was happy and relieved. She added that there was no connection between the effort to free the two journalists and the thorny nuclear issue.

“We have always considered that a totally separate issue from our efforts to re-engage the North Koreans and have them return to the six-party talks and work for a commitment for the full, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” she said. “The future of our relationships with the North Koreans is really up to them. They have a choice.”

A US official said Bill Clinton talked to North Korea’s leadership about the “positive things that could flow” from freeing the two women.

“President Clinton had made clear that this was a purely private humanitarian mission,” the US official told reporters in Washington after Kim granted the journalists a pardon.
　

Chen Shui-bian sues three judges for abuse of power
　

ACCUSATIONS: The lawsuit claims Tsai Shou-hsun, Hsu Chien-hui and Wu Ding-ya had acted illegally to gain control of Chen’s cases and to keep him in detention
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Aug 06, 2009, Page 1

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) lawyer filed a lawsuit yesterday against Taipei District Court Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) and two other judges involved in Chen’s corruption trial, accusing them of abuse of power.

Chen’s office issued a statement criticizing Tsai, the presiding judge, and Hsu Chien-hui (徐千惠) and Wu Ding-ya (吳定亞) for violating the law and Constitution for forming what it called “an illegal joint-decision court” to gain authority over Chen’s cases.

The trio abused their power by illegally detaining Chen, the statement said, infringing upon articles 125 and 28 of the Civil Code, adding that the detention was a pretext to retaliate against Chen after he denied any wrongdoing and refused to plead guilty.

Last month, the court extended Chen’s detention for a third time. In the ruling, the judges reiterated several of the reasons cited in their previous detention rulings.

Among the reasons mentioned were that Chen would collude with witnesses, destroy evidence or try to abscond. The court also cited Chen’s “interference” with the case by talking to the public through friends and colleagues who visited him at the detention center.

Chen has been held at the Taipei Detention Center since last December.

He is suspected of money laundering, accepting bribes, forgery and embezzling NT$15 million (US$450,000) during his presidency.

His wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), was indicted in 2006 on charges of embezzling NT$104 million from the presidential “state affairs” fund.

Chen was declared a defendant in the case shortly after his presidential term ended on May 20 last year. He could not be charged earlier because of presidential immunity.

Chen and Wu are also accused of accepting NT$100 million in bribes and US$6 million in connection with a land procurement deal, as well as US$2.73 million in kickbacks to help a contractor win a tender for a government construction project.

The couple’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Prosecutors have rejected the couple’s plea-negotiations.

Chen Shui-bian has denied all the charges and accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of “political persecution” and of waging a “political vendetta” against him to curry favor with China.
　

Kadeer accuses Beijing of ‘psychological torture’

AFP AND AP, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Thursday, Aug 06, 2009, Page 1

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer yesterday accused China of carrying out “psychological torture” on her children by forcing them to appear on state television to blame her for deadly unrest.

Kadeer said her daughter Roxingul and jailed son Alim had taken part “against their will” in the CCTV news report, in which they said she incited last month’s violence in the Xinjiang region which left at least 197 dead.

“What the Chinese government did was probably one of the worst kinds of violence, I would say, against my children to force them to speak up against me,” Kadeer, speaking through a translator, told journalists in Melbourne.

“I believe it’s against their conscience, against their will, to force them to say the things against me, and I believe it’s a form of dictatorship imposed upon them by the government,” she said.

Roxingul, Alim and Kadeer’s brother Memet denounced the 62-year-old US-based Uighur leader in a report aired on Tuesday, saying she had whipped up China’s worst ethnic violence in decades — a claim also made by Beijing.

“What my mother has done has no result. Separatists cannot separate such a great nation, neither can she,” Alim said from prison, where he is serving a sentence for tax evasion.

Roxingul, Memet and Khahar, another of Kadeer’s sons, had earlier written letters widely circulated in the Chinese press denouncing her over the unrest in Urumqi.

“It’s hard for me to imagine what kind of psychological torture they are going through at the moment,” Kadeer said.

“When I was in prison I was also forced to say things against my will by the Chinese government on a videotape and [it was] posted on a Web site, so it’s no surprise to me,” she said.

The mother of 11 was once a successful businesswoman in Xinjiang, but spent six years in a Chinese jail and has become a standard-bearer for the Uighur movement since her release in 2005. Her visit to Australia sparked strong protests from Beijing, which calls her a “criminal” and summoned Canberra’s ambassador to complain.

Kadeer is due to attend a premiere on Saturday of a documentary about her life, 10 Conditions of Love, which China tried to have withdrawn from the Melbourne International Film Festival.

“It’s just like the Olympics and China —it was just an international sporting event, but the Chinese government turned that into a political event,” said Kadeer, adding she was “shocked” by Beijing’s reaction.

“It’s the same thing I see with the film festival: initially it’s just a film festival, but with the Chinese pressure it became politicized,” she said.

“I am only peacefully advocating rights and justice and freedom for my people, but it’s been witnessed that the Chinese government put enormous pressure on Japan during my recent visit, and also put enormous pressure on Turkey, now Australia,” she said.

“I believe the Chinese government is basically trying to impose its authoritarianism on the whole world because of me,” she said.

China is inflaming ethnic tensions by deceiving its own people about the Xinjiang riots, she said.

“The Chinese people should be very careful with the Chinese government’s versions of the events and the ways and means the Chinese government employ ... to deceive, to some extent, the Chinese people, to create this kind of terrible relationship between two groups,” Kadeer said.

Are Taiwanese fooled?

Thursday, Aug 06, 2009, Page 8

When my friends and I last visited our home country I was stunned to see that Taiwan is no longer the same free country since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected by the majority of the Taiwanese people. The local newspapers and TV stations appear to be out of touch and not reporting what has been happening in Taiwan. The economic crisis, the high suicide rate and a feeling of helplessness have deeply eroded the fledging democracy that the previous two presidents had built.

President Ma has not honored his campaign promises to improve the economy or to bring political reform and protect the sovereignty of Taiwan. Worse yet, he has made a mockery of the law by manipulating the judicial system. One example is the continuous persecution of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family. Ma has fooled the nation and the public many times. I wonder if the majority of the Taiwanese people agree with his actions.

Is he condoned as a ruler, or a dictator? I know he doesn’t act alone. He has loyal followers who work for him and execute his wishes.

During a recent court appearance, six prosecutors congratulated a not so credible witness after she apparently said something they were pleased with! It is obvious that prosecutors are not conforming to standards. The majority of the news media did not make this an issue. I have not seen or read about any law professors condemning the prosecutors. It is quite clear that the law schools in Taiwan are not giving the prosecutors a good education.

The blame for the current situation needs to be shared by the Taiwanese majority who voted for Ma and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and by those who were too apathetic to vote.

The problems of Ma and the KMT have been fueled by government officials who think they need to keep their position by implementing bad policies, which make people suffer.

Also to blame are Taiwanese who are short-sighted and rush for personal short-term financial gain by transferring hard-earned economic prowess to China at the cost of long-term political stability and independence. Even those who previously were pro-Taiwan are caving in to China’s demands now that their economic and financial survival depends on low-wage factories.

Am I mad? Yes, I am furious. Do Ministry of Justice officials, law school professors and the many respected intellectuals have consciences? Why are they not speaking up and telling people the truth? If Ma is fooling the people, it should be pointed out they are also allowing themselves to be fooled.

TIEN C. CHENG
Libertyville, Illinois

Protecting freedom of expression through film
　

By Lee Yun-fen 李蘊芬
Thursday, Aug 06, 2009, Page 8

This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) includes showings of Australian director Jeff Daniels’ film 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary on the life of World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer. Festival organizers have also invited Kadeer to speak at the festival and attend the film’s premiere on Saturday.

The invitation drew an emphatic protest from China. Chinese producer Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯) and directors Zhao Liang (趙亮) and Emily Tang (唐曉白) withdrew their entries from the festival, while Chinese hackers defaced the festival’s Web site and sabotaged the ticket sales system. Taiwanese director Cheng Hsiao-tse’s (程孝澤) movie Miao Miao (渺渺), a Taiwanese and Hong Kong joint venture, was also pulled from the festival by the Hong Kong distributor.

Both the festival’s organizers and audience have been affected. Not only was the Australian government infuriated by China’s wanton attempts to interfere with freedom of expression, but local and international media outlets such as Agence France-Presse misunderstood Taiwan’s position on the matter.

Even though the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Australia made a timely statement and was able to communicate with local Taiwanese expatriates and media outlets, the Sunday Age, CBC News and the New York Times still carried stories about Taiwan from a mistaken point of view on Sunday, hurting the image both of Taiwan and of the Taiwanese film industry.

After festival organizers sternly requested that China refrain from interfering with the festival, the Chinese directors not only withdrew their films from the festival, but said that they would never attend Australian film festivals and related activities in the future.

This move has caused an array of criticism from the international movie industry. If the festival organizers had given in to China, the selection of films in other festivals would be affected by political factors as well. Many worried that this could destroy the freedom of expression that should be protected in international film festivals.

In addition, Taiwanese movies made in cooperation with companies in Hong Kong or other parts of China will likely not be able to participate in international film festivals in the future because of Chinese pressure. This is not a good thing for either movie producers or audiences.

While Jerry Chuang (莊正安), director of the Information Division at the TECO in Australia, managed to communicate directly with the festival organizers, movie-goers and local media outlets on the front line, the Chinese government resorted to a crude protest against the festival, which has backfired and instead intensified Australian animosity toward China, while also damaging Taiwan’s international profile.

We hope that the Taiwanese government will not only defend the rights and interests of the Taiwanese film industry, but also support the pursuit of basic human rights as well as the independence and freedom of expression of film festivals.

Taiwanese movie No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (不能沒有你), directed by Leon Dai (戴立忍), recently won the Best Feature Film award at the 30th Durban International Film Festival. This is ample evidence that Taiwanese movies are starting to shine on the international stage. I urge everybody to continue to support domestic movies and not let China dim the popularity of Taiwanese film.

Lee Yun-fen is former media coordinator at the Chinese Taipei Film Archive.