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Taiwanese-US citizens
angry at document claims
By William Lowther / Staff Reporter in WASHINGTON
Reports that the Presidential Office is accusing 17 former Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) officials of “failing to return” 36,000 documents to the
National Archives a few years ago have caused uproar amongst
Taiwanese-Americans.
They are furious at what they see as a blatant attempt to damage the DPP in the
run-up to legislative elections to be held at the end of this year or the first
half of next year and next year’s presidential election.
The documents, most of them classified, cannot be found and there is little or
no evidence to indicate what happened to them, but Presidential Office spokesman
Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) has said the case is being investigated by the Control Yuan
and that it could lead to criminal charges.
“To come up with this matter at this time, when the primaries for next year’s
presidential elections are underway, is very very fishy,” president of the
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) Bob Yang (楊英育) said.
Yang said the move was “yet -another transparent attempt” by President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) government to use the Control Yuan and the judicial system as tools of
political persecution.
FAPA is an umbrella organization representing a large number of
Taiwanese-American groups.
“It is just flabbergasting to see that the Ma government thinks it can get away
with this,” he said. “If any documents are missing, it should have been noticed
during the transition period in 2008.”
“In any government organization, such documents are seen and reviewed by high
officials, but lower level officials process and file them. These lower
officials are the same people in either DPP or Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]
administrations. In Taiwan’s bureaucracy, they would not dare to deviate from
the established rules on handling documents,” he added.
Yang said it was “regrettable” that Ma was once again abusing the Control Yuan
for political purposes.
“Taiwan’s democracy is suffering yet another setback at a time when it can least
afford it,” Yang said. “Playing these games is detrimental to Taiwan and its
future as a free and democratic nation.”
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