Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Knowing when to put politics aside

Taipei Times Editorial

As a powerful typhoon approached Taiwan on Sunday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election in January, did what any true leader would do in such a situation: He called an impromptu press conference.

However, rather than discuss emergency preparedness before the storm, which had already killed eight people in the Philippines, Ma decided to take his main opponent in the election, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), to task on a question that clearly was on everybody’s mind on such a day — the so-called “1992 consensus.”

Retrial ruling reveals secret diplomatic efforts

Taipei Times

A ruling by the Taiwan High Court last week, in which former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was found not guilty of misusing his special state affairs fund, inadvertently revealed secret diplomatic efforts by Taipei as it explained in detail how Chen spent state affairs funds to promote relations with other countries.

PRIME MINISTERS

The ruling said that Taipei in the 1990s lobbied former Japanese prime ministers Ryutaro Hashimoto and Junichiro Koizumi to support Taiwan’s efforts to attend the WTO Ministerial Conference on Agriculture — efforts that succeeded in the long run.

Tsai not the one who needs a reality check

Jerome Keating

An important issue that Taiwanese voters will have to evaluate as next year’s elections approach is not only what each party’s cross-strait policy or “China policy” is, but also how realistic it is. In line with this, barely a week before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presented its policy, in an almost laughable essay, David Brown, as if pontificating as a hired gun for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the rest of the world, “demanded” that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) present a realistic case.

“Taiwanese voters deserve a clear understanding of Tsai’s policies,” he wrote.

Retrial finds A-bian not guilty of graft

Taipei Times

The Taiwan High Court yesterday rescinded previous rulings and found former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) not guilty of corruption, in a retrial of their state affairs fund case.

However, it upheld Chen’s previous conviction for his role in the use of fraudulent receipts to obtain reimbursement for spending from the state affairs fund. On that charge, Chen was given an additional 20-month prison sentence that was cut to 10 months in accordance with a commutation statute.

The court also upheld Chen’s conviction for his role in a money laundering case that concerned a land deal in Taoyuan County’s Longtan (龍潭) and sentenced him to another two years in prison.

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