News

Taiwan democracy in peril: US senator

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 07:16 Taipei Times

A US senator said on Monday that some of the gains in democracy that Taiwan has made over the past 20 years “are now in peril.”

Speaking at a special Washington screening of the political thriller Formosa Betrayed, which takes place during the White Terror era, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said it was a miracle that Taiwan had been able to build a prosperous democracy with a strong middle class.

Chen Shui-bian appeals for release

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 07:15 Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday appealed to the court to release him from custody so that he could defend himself at the appeals court.

Chen has been in custody since December. He and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), were sentenced to life in prison for graft on Friday, making them the first former first family in the nation's history to be indicted and convicted.

Wu met pro-Beijing politician in HK

Tuesday, 15 September 2009 07:12 Taipei Times

The Executive Yuan yesterday said Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) met Hong Kong politician Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) during his visit to Hong Kong on Sept. 5.

Leung is the convenor of the non-official members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and has been mentioned in Hong Kong media as a likely successor to Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) as the territory’s chief executive in 2012.

Chen trial was a test of democracy, analysts say

Monday, 14 September 2009 09:08 Taipei Times

The trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was a test of Taiwan’s young democracy — and the country received just average marks, observers say.

The Taipei District Court on Friday found 58-year-old Chen — in detention since December — guilty of embezzling state funds, laundering money, accepting bribes and committing forgery.

Suspicion rife in US of meddling in Chen trial

Sunday, 13 September 2009 08:51 Taipei Times

There is widespread suspicion in the US that politics played a role in the sentencing of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) on Friday. “This is political persecution by judicial means,” said Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a Washington-based advocacy organization of Taiwanese-Americans.

The LA Times called the sentence “unexpectedly stiff” and said the trial was “steeped in politics.”

Chen Shui-bian gets life

Saturday, 12 September 2009 07:25 Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian walks behind barbed wire inside the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng, Taipei County, yesterday before the Taipei District Court sentenced him to life in prison.
PHOTO: AFP

The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife to life in prison after handing down a guilty verdict in the graft trial against the former first couple and 11 co-defendants.

The verdict makes Chen the first former president in the country’s history to be indicted and convicted.

Ma’s choice of Chu more popular than that of Wu

Wednesday, 09 September 2009 08:24 Taipei Times

Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) appointment as premier was not as popular as that of vice premier-designate Eric Chu (朱立倫), polls showed yesterday.

A survey conducted by the TVBS Poll Center on Monday night found that 61 percent of respondents said Chu, Taoyuan County commissioner and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman, was suitable for his new job, while 12 percent said he was unsuitable and 27 percent did not give an opinion.

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