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2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai
condemns Ma over monitoring
ANOTHER WATERGATE? ‘Next Magazine’ named 28
agents at the Investigation Bureau, who it said were given the task of
monitoring DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
spokesperson Chen Chi-mai holds up a copy of a document in Taipei yesterday as
he asks President Ma Ying-jeou to explain allegations that the National Security
Bureau ordered the Investigation Bureau to collect intelligence on the party’s
presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party
spokesperson Chen Chi-mai shows a record of the intelligence service monitoring
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s participation in forums at a press
conference yesterday. The document lists minutes from a meeting between Tsai and
a representative of a farmers’ organization, including the time and place of the
meeting, the number of attendees, comments made and how many voters the
attendees were estimated to be able to influence.
Photo: Lin Shu-hui, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
yesterday condemned the intelligence authorities after allegations that they had
been monitoring the party’s presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), saying
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should offer a clear explanation.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported that National Security
Council (NSC) Secretary-General Hu Wei-chen (胡為真) had acted beyond his authority
when he allegedly asked the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau to
monitor Tsai in May.
Since Hu directly reports to Ma, who is seeking re-election as the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate, Ma should explain whether he was aware of the
illegal practice, Tsai said at a campaign stop in Kinmen.
“The President of the [Republic of China] ROC exploited government agencies to
collect information to benefit his election campaign ... He is apparently
capitalizing on the state apparatus for his own benefit and will have to be held
accountable,” Tsai said.
At a press conference in Taipei, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) described
the alleged practice as “Taiwan’s Watergate scandal,” as a president who is
seeking re-election was suspected of abusing his power and ordering the
intelligence authorities to monitor his opponents to benefit his election
campaign.
According to the Next Magazine report, Weng Shih-tsan (翁詩燦), director of the
NSC’s Secretariat, attended an intelligence meeting organized by the
Investigation Bureau last week and took away information related to the
presidential election, before submitting the information to Ma via Hu.
The magazine’s report named 28 senior agents at the bureau, who it said were
given the task of monitoring Tsai and submitting weekly reports on the times,
locations and the attendees at Tsai’s campaign events.
The magazine said agents also made evaluations on the influence of local
politicians or businesspeople who met with Tsai — KMT members and non-partisan
representatives in particular — and predicted how many votes were at stake if
they offered their support to Tsai.
It also cited an unidentified high-ranking official at the National Security
Bureau (NSB) as saying that the NSC and Hu had ignored the intelligence system’s
chain of command.
In response to the report, the NSC said that while it did send Weng to the
meeting, he did not take any information away and no information had been
submitted to Hu and Ma.
The NSB said in a press release that the NSC did not breach the chain of
command.
The Investigation Bureau also denied the report. It said in a press release that
it is one of the agencies responsible for the security of the presidential and
vice presidential candidates, so naturally it knows about the candidates’
campaign activities. However, it said it does not get involved in the election,
adding that while it analyzes and responds to the security situation, it does
not offer the Presidential Office or the NSC candidates’ campaign information.
At a separate press conference, the DPP caucus criticized the alleged illegal
monitoring.
On Dec. 23, 2008, Ma urged the Investigation Bureau’s agents to pledge loyalty
to the country, the Constitution and the people, rather than the president or
their superiors, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said.
Ma also said during a presentation last week that he would withdraw from the
election if he “had resorted to the state apparatus for political oppression of
his opponents,” Lin added.
Lin said she wondered whether Ma dared to make the same pledge again now that it
was clear that the NSC, which is in charge of formulation and coordination of
national security and defense policy, has become an agency that collects
domestic election information.
When approached by reporters during a visit to a market in Greater Taichung, Ma
said he had no knowledge about Tsai’s campaign schedule and he simply said “no”
when asked whether he had instructed the NSC to collect information on Tsai.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and Mo Yan-chih
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