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KMT hurt democracy,
Tsai says
GAME CHANGER: The former DPP boss was cleared
after an investigation into her relationship with a biotech firm, but the KMT
was blasted for a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former Democratic Progressive
Party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday, alleging
that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) manipulation of the Yu Chang case
hurt Taiwan’s democratic development.
Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT)
manipulation of the Yu Chang Biologics Co case has hurt Taiwan’s democratic
development and added that the party’s collaboration with the media on the case
during the presidential campaign was “vicious.”
The KMT government’s misconduct and the negative impact of the alleged case on
Taiwan’s biotechnology industry were what really concerned her, Tsai said on the
sidelines of a workshop on Taiwan’s economy organized by her foundation.
Tsai said her political team had thoroughly reviewed the Yu Chang case and were
reassured that she had not been involved in illegal conduct, adding that “the
important thing was not if I had been treated fairly, but that KMT manipulation
damaged Taiwan’s democracy.”
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) on Tuesday
closed its investigation into Yu Chang Biologics Co, now known as TaiMed
Biologics Inc, clearing Tsai of any wrongdoing in the case which many believe
helped President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) beat Tsai in the January presidential
election.
Tsai said the leader of the nation had failed to do his job when he did not help
the biotechonology industry develop, but instead damaged the sector with his
campaign maneuverings.
While the KMT claimed it had never called the case a scandal, Tsai said the
Taiwanese people had experienced the incident first-hand and understood how the
party had distorted media coverage during the campaign.
Former Council of Economic Planning and Development minister Christina Liu (劉憶如)
was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times yesterday as saying that she had
been asked by Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), then-premier, to launch an
administrative investigation into Tsai’s conduct.
In response to the newspaper report, Tsai said it was the “most vicious
practice” for the state apparatus to inappropriately use government documents —
including forged documents — to discredit specific candidates.
DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) told a press conference that the Yu Chang case
was a “dirty trick” Ma had used for political gain.
In response to the KMT’s statement, which said that while Tsai had been cleared
of all illegal activities, she could not evade her “moral stain,” Wu said that
Ma had also been cleared of all charges in a corruption case.
“I would like to know if Ma also has a ‘moral stain’ even though he was found
not guilty,” Wu said, referring to the Supreme Court’s April 2008 ruling that
said Ma was not guilty of misusing his special mayoral allowance during his
eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor.
The DPP headquarters also offered support to Tsai yesterday, with party Chairman
Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) saying after the weekly Central Standing Committee meeting
that the party planned to seek justice for DPP politicians who had been
persecuted by the judicial system in the past.
A working group would be established under the DPP’s Policy Research Committee
to gather and analyze information of all the legal cases and prosecutions
involving DPP members, including Tsai and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), in
an effort to “reverse the miscarriage of justice,” Su said.
Necessary measures will be taken after all the analytical work has been done, Su
said, adding that the DPP does not rule out taking legal action against those
responsible.
“The DPP urges Ma and those who were involved in the manipulation of the case to
apologize to Taiwan’s biotechnology industry,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien
(林俊憲) said.
It has been the KMT’s strategy and an example of the party’s “old tricks” to
resort to the abuse of state apparatus, forgery and almost anything in order to
secure election victory, Lin said.
The KMT’s defamation of Tsai and Yu Chang Biologics Co, along with its past
attacks on Hsuehshan Tunnel, the High Speed Rail and the Southern Taiwan Science
Park — all completed under the DPP administration — also showed the KMT could
only attack the DPP when it could not deliver the same performance, Lin said.
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