Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Former National Science Council official Shieh Ching-jyh gestures during an interview on Friday in Greater Kaohsiung.
Photo: Huang Chien-hua, Taipei Times

Former National Science Council official Shieh Ching-jyh (謝清志), who was acquitted of corruption charges after a five-and-a-half-year judicial ordeal, said he was neither surprised nor happy at the court ruling declaring him innocent and called for the judicial system to avoid becoming a tool for political administrations.

Shieh made the remarks in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Friday.

For those who have long complained about the seemingly apathetic Taiwanese youth on matters of politics, the past two weeks must have had elements of both surprise and relief, with two large student mobilizations taking place in two cities on two different continents: London and Taipei.

The catalyst in both instances was injustice — the removal, following official complaints by China, of the Republic of China (ROC) national flag at a non-Olympic venue in London, and the creation of a pro-China media monster through the acquisition by the Want Want China Times Group of China Network Systems’ (CNS) cable TV services, and the subsequent threat of lawsuits by a Want Want employee against a student.