Taiwan

Diplomatic slush A former president indicted

Jul 7th 2011 | TAIPEI| from the print edition

The man who changed Taiwan

AT THE end of June a bombshell burst over Taiwan’s former leader, Lee Teng-hui. The island’s first democratically elected president, who ruled in between 1988 and 2000, was indicted for embezzlement and money-laundering. The country’s top prosecutor’s office charges Mr Lee, who is 88, with siphoning $7.8m from secret diplomatic funds over a decade ago and laundering them to build a research institute where he now presides as honorary chairman. Mr Lee, who has now become the second Taiwanese president to be charged with corruption, may face at least ten years in prison. He insists he is innocent.

Mr Lee shaped Taiwan’s modern history as few others have. When he was a leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), which fled to Taiwan after losing China’s civil war in 1949, he instituted key democratic reforms following a nearly 40-year dictatorship under Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo. Though Mr Lee was first appointed president in an authoritarian Taiwan, he called for a wholly democratic presidential election in 1996, which he won. It was a way not only of liberalising the island’s politics, but of distancing Taiwan from the Communist mainland. So furious was China at Mr Lee’s behaviour in those days that it lobbed missiles into waters near Taiwan. The American president, then Bill Clinton, staged the biggest show of American military muscle in the region in decades, sending two aircraft-carrier battle groups to the Taiwan Strait. Despite Chinese bluster, or perhaps helped by it, Mr Lee won handsomely.

Reviled by Beijing, Mr Lee helped foster a sense of Taiwanese identity. Many in the KMT long suspected him of favouring independence. They were right. In 2000 he was expelled by the party and founded the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union. Mr Lee is now very critical of the China-friendly policies espoused by today’s president, the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou.

Pro-independence types now accuse Taiwan’s judiciary of political bias. Many, including the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, say the timing of the indictment is suspicious. Ms Tsai was about to attend a fund-raising event with Mr Lee. Meanwhile, Mr Ma has launched his re-election bid: presidential elections take place early next year.

Whatever the truth, the indictment highlights the seamier side of Taiwan’s foreign relations. The ability to have normal diplomatic activities with other countries has been wrecked by Chinese pressure on them to shun Taiwan. That is why Taiwanese leaders have in the past resorted to secret slush funds to bribe nations into offering diplomatic recognition.

These funds are hardly transparent. Prosecutors say that in 1994 Mr Lee secretly wanted to donate $10.5m to an unidentified foreign political party—assumed to be South Africa’s African National Congress. The money was lent by his national security bureau to the foreign ministry. But when the money was reimbursed (South Africa switched its allegiance to China anyway), less than $3m ended back in the bureau’s hands. Prosecutors allege that Mr Lee and a top aide skimmed off the rest.

Mr Lee’s successor as president, Chen Shui-bian, who is already serving a long sentence after being convicted of corruption, was recently acquitted by the Supreme Court on charges of using diplomatic slush funds for his son’s schooling. To his credit, Mr Ma wants to end Taiwan’s dollar diplomacy andits temptations. A recent diplomatic truce with China, in which Beijing will not poach Taiwan’s 23 allies and Taiwan will not seek new ones, should help. So far, the truce appears to be working. An American diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks reported that Panama, long a Taiwanese ally, tried to switch diplomatic ties to China. The mainland rejected its overtures.

from the print edition | Asia

Diplomatic slush

Jul 10th 2011, 17:13

Lee Tung-Hui must be jailed not only because he saw this monetary system as his family’s but also he relied on his beloved black way of using his clumsy money-laundering diplomatic lines. The monetary system donated by many Taiwanese tax is indeed lacking of professional management and lets Taiwanese live under high-debt condition.

During the 12-year-reign of Lee, or say his ruining Taiwan’s period, Taiwanese still don’t know the clear statement how to describe themselves (excluding me) along his troublemaker’s road. Lee sometimes says “Taiwan Banzai” phoentic in Japanese which he also speaks and respects more than Mandarin, or sometimes says his so-called farmer first Chinese history, even he once raised his hands with Ma Ying-Jeou boosting his transcendent Big New Taiwan Theory that is contained in Chinese (whom Lee thinks and only supports R.O.C) and Taiwanese (who Lee wants to fool and still doesn’t know the future of Taiwan) walking together with each other toward his beautiful boulevard. His ugly face and fraudulent behaviour always annoy Beijing and confuse international society that wants to make friends with real Taiwanese.

Ma Ying-Jeou met Lee after Ma was elected as Taipei authority’s leader in 2008. Ma and Lee are both alliance and foes with each other (or say both black and white) for at least 15 years. He is charged for political reasons more than other’s. Moreover, according to Taipei authority’s judiciary custom, it costs more at least one year than local routine strangely to make a decision whether Lee is sentenced. This is a reflection of intentional thoughts of the renaissance in Chiang’s regime. On the surface, Ma Ying-Jeou says all of his recent action including setting up anti-corruption bureau (the similar idea Hsieh Chung-Ting also offered in 2008’s election)is trying to keep his so-called diginity of his justice system; in my view, he only wants to show his willingness of one-leadership in order to cheat on Taiwanese so that they “naturally” agree with him and vote him beyond question.

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Diplomatic slush

Jul 10th 2011, 17:15

(conntinued)

Lee not only overused these fund in “Fung-Tian and Dang-Yung Plan” but also constructed many redundant military buildings or tissue(These two plan is concerned about me and I still research these two). Lee continued his mixed New Taiwanese theory by singing “Rain Night Flower” away in front of numerous media after 2000’s election. Many Taiwanese still have been respecting him as “A-Hui-Bei” with foolishness. Truthfully, former President Chen Shui-Bian, once called the son of Taiwan, is qualified to be described with this song, as many readers can see in DPP’s twenty-year-old celebration’s documentary “Sovereignty of Taiwan”. It’s a pity for Chen to be jailed but the despicable Lee, whom former Chinese Prime minister Zhou Rong-Ji once wanted to bloodly wash and kill with many Taiwan’s illiterate animals in 1999’s summer, should be inndeed immediately jailed while Soong Tsu-Yu’s supporter (James Soong) protested Lee’s behaviour in Mar. 2000.

Taiwan’s judiciary system is apparently becoming grayer in Ma’s this tenure. In comparison with Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s reform on prosecution, Ma who only boosted a white thieving paper away just let Taiwanese live in conflicts and misunderstadings all day. His ridiculuous behaviours fool all Taiwanese only to lose Taiwan’s leadership. In fact, Taiwan under the dead “Republic of China”’s connstitution cannot progress because of this basic law’s old words. In addition, Taiwan’s newly-passed prosecutors and judges, especially in nearly ten years, have fewer and fewer ability to make decisions and appoint the moderate officers in this system. Rather than Chen Shui-Bian’s lawyer temper, Ma’s faked rhetoric has confused Taiwan for a long time. So I don’t know whether I can file my recent lawsuit in damages against the no-feeling woman although I hire the top lawyers in Taipei.

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Diplomatic slush

Jul 11th 2011, 15:39

To Hibro:

This party is one of big jokes in Taiwan’s history. As you can see Lee Teng-Hui’s Taiwan Solidatary Union, now it is smaller than dust. And the first party’s leader, Huang Hua, has been seen as a duck or a monkey which only can murmur with Wang Bun-Hu on mickey mouse channel. But interestingly speaking, Huang knows Japan DPJ’s some assembly in Lower House, having some support from foreigners. And if we use this quote’s point, this party is just paraphrasing Democratic Progressive Party’s spirit, “Taiwan Independence Announcement”, and maybe copy my statement once posted on some websites. Rather than DPP, the top democratic party of the Asia and constructed by Kao-Hsiung Incident’s well-educated and well-cultivated people, this party lacks of figures but egghead animals only to enjoy themselves. Alas, that’s why Taiwan’s two-party system cannnot be built smoothly and hasn’t yet become mature.

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一週內李登輝也因外交秘帳疑雲被起訴的批評，一度台灣島內盛傳司法迫害，之後案子沒下文，的確啟人疑竇。在此說明筆者雖不反對李為台灣民主之父稱號，但不喜歡其政治風格及生涯作為。畢竟其是在國民黨威權體制成長所得的官位。對於兩岸又說可開放達成九二共識，又隔年國慶談話提三民主義統一中國，而之後偏向綠營的態度。一陣子的雨夜花站台是2000年以後的台灣團結聯盟造勢場子在用的號召。這首可說是中日台三國的百年老歌，是筆者外祖父周阿通的家堂兄(因外祖父過繼給當時苗栗客家聞人周金柱作養子)周添旺先生作的曲調。這怎麼可以被亂唱，台聯現在當然沒政治生命啦。推薦江蕙、多明哥和薇閣中學合唱團的版本，當時本土的氣氛整個隨政策去中國化而鼓舞了起來。

話說筆者的淡水望族出身的祖父陳水性和祖母陳林鴛當年的婚禮，李登輝和李曾文惠，後者為筆者曾祖母的堂姐妹，是證婚人，所以長年，雖然李伯偏到泛綠陣營，不過宗族曾經支持綠營的人，大概只有筆者啦。曾祖父陳堅老先生常常從淡水搬洋貨在大稻埕買賣，有一些人脈，久之就讓祖父定居歸綏街附近。前副總統連戰就是筆者認職台灣自來水公司的大伯父的日新國小同學。

回文給網友時提到阿扁總統任上的前國策顧問黃樺組黨。這個黨是桃園鄉下黨。提的理念和民進黨差不多。在當時馬英九的國民黨佔絕對優勢時這新聞顯得突出，又有人想衝一發看看能否回到一種藍綠均勢。最近黃樺又復出搞了一批活動，在反年改團體氣燄很盛的時候和統派在立法院外和中正廟起了衝突。