Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Grand justices fail to take a stand

Chang Wen-chen 張文貞

Constitutional Interpretation No. 665 of the Council of Grand Justices deals with the decision to replace the judges handling the corruption cases against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and some of his family members and associates when they were already underway. It also deals with the question of whether the Taipei District Court’s guidelines for assigning criminal cases, on which the decision was based, are in line with the Constitution.

Two of the grand justices found these to be unconstitutional, and one said that they should be reviewed, but the other grand justices found them to be constitutional. This is a most regrettable decision that obscures a number of ethical issues.

Friendship is no bar to espionage

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

Following my presentation on Chinese espionage at National Chengchi University’s just-opened MacArthur Center for Security Studies on Oct. 15, a member of the audience asked a question that has stayed with me and probably deserves elaboration on the short answer I provided at the time.

“Once relations between Taiwan and China improve,” asked a young man — an undergraduate exchange student from Dongguan, Guangdong Province — “do you think Beijing might, given the importance of the relationship for the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], decrease espionage activity against Taiwan?”

The problem of surplus capital

Taipei Times

On Wednesday, central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) met ranking officials from three state-run banks and asked them to pay attention to the ability of borrowers to repay loans, not just admire the value of the collateral.

The central bank’s unusual move came just three weeks after it issued a press statement voicing concerns that an inflow of hot money would have adverse implications for the nation’s economic and financial stability.

The KMT's Diane Lee Finally Admits, She Lied.

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

The political bias and imbalance of Taiwan's Courts and its System of Justice were once again made evident in Taiwan when Diane Lee returned to court this past week. Lee, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ex-legislator finally admitted that she, in violation of the law, has all along held dual-citizenship between the United States and the Republic of China on Taiwan. Yes after months of denying this fact, after accusing the United States of poor record keeping, after using every excuse and trying to blame any and all parties for doubting her, Lee finally admitted the truth. But what has this to do with the bias of the courts. Lee is still presumed innocent in the eyes of the court; she is as free as a bird.

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