Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The Presidential Office yesterday said it would take legal action in a few days if former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) refused to return documents he took with him when he left office.

Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the former president may have violated the National Archives Act (國家檔案法), the Civil Servants Work Act (公務人員服務法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the penal code when he took about 20 boxes of documents when he left office.

In the wake of the signing of a controversial "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement," the authoritarian People's Republic of China has launched drives to push President Ma Ying-jeou's rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government to accept political negotiations and help promote "cultural unification" under a "Chinese national identity."

While Ma appears committed to delay political talks until after the crucial Nov. 27 municipal mayoral elections, the KMT government seems to have fewer qualms about cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party - ruled PRC's intention to subordinate Taiwan culture under the reactionary umbrella of "Chinese national culture."