China Digital Times

SECTION: Taiwan

• In Turnabout, China Executes Man Accused of Spying

  

  Lauren Keane reports in the Washington Post:

  China Friday executed a man convicted of passing sensitive military and political information to Taiwan, even though his family had been told through diplomatic channels Thursday afternoon that they would have another chance to visit him.

  Austrian deputy ambassador Stefan Scholz relayed the news of the execution late Friday afternoon to the family of Wo Weihan, 60, according Wo’s daughter, Ran Chen. Chen, an Austrian citizen, had been appealing for clemency through diplomatic channels since arriving in Beijing on Monday. She said that she had been told he was executed by gunshot.

  Wo, 60, was put to death even as Chinese and European Union officials were wrapping up a meeting on human rights in Beijing.

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  • November 28, 2008 9:57 AM

• Huang Jing v.s. ASUS (Updated)

  

  CDT previously reported a piece of news, “Jailed Customer Faces Large International Enterprises.”Huang Jing (黄静), who was a female undergraduate, got jailed for the suspect of extortion, two years ago, after she tried to protect her right as an ASUS notebook customer. She was released 10 months later as the district procuratorate found no sufficient evidence to sue her. Now, she is seeking compensation from the sate and also countersuing ASUS.  After the story was first revealed, many netizens expressed their anger accusing that the state and the Taiwan-based comapny ASUS cooperate together to suppress Chinese citizens’ customer right.  However, as more netizens then participated in the discussion and contributed information, online opinions started to deviate as more evidence appeared not in favor of Huang Jing, especially after CCTV recently broadcasted a special report (in Chinese with a video) of the case.

  Huang Jing claims that She bought an ASUS laptop for RMB 20,900 (roughly over $2000 at that time) in Feb. 2006. She faced overheating and blue screen problems immediately after she brought it home. After a few returns, an ASUS engineer finally told her that he upgraded her CPU to a better one. However, after she brought the laptop home again, she discovered that the newly replaced CPU was actually an Intel test CPU that is prohibited to sell. Huang Jing and her agent Zhou Chengyu (周成宇) then went to ASUS and asked $5 million for not making the “scandal” public. They claimed that they would use this huge amount of money to set up an anti-fraud foundation to protect customer right. After a few rounds of negotiation, ASUS finally called the police charging Huang Jing and  Zhou Chengyu for extortion. Huang Jing got released from the prison 10 months after she got detained.

  The story did not bring too much public attention untill Zhou Chengyu set up an website in Oct. 2008 countersuing ASUS for defamation, false accusation and selling defective products. In the begining, almost all netizens showed their anger toward ASUS and also the state. As in many other cases, there is general suspicion among people that the state tolerates many Taiwan-based companies doing bad things in China for political purposes.

  However, as the online discussion got heated up later, it was found that Zhou Chengyu actually had commited fraud and been put into jail many times in his personal history. In response, Zhou said that he had already decided to be a new person, and his past history is irrelevant to this case.

  It also turned out that, as ASUS later started to provide more details, Huang Jing did not tell the whole story to the public. She used a faked identity to purchase the laptop; Zhou claimed to be her lawyer negotiating with ASUS although Zhou did not have a lawyer license at all; they actually prepared a whole detailed PR plan to make their case public; and, they never talked about the anti-fraud foundation in their negotation with ASUS,

  Now, many netizens turn their suspicion back to Huang Jing as she does not appear to be a normal customer, and her whole dispute with ASUS seems to aim at the $5 million purposely. Still, nobody likes ASUS. Many still insist that, despite the fact that Huang might have been too greedy, ASUS should still be condemned for putting its cunstomer into jail.

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  • November 25, 2008 1:32 AM

• For China and Taiwan, a Welcome Thaw

  

  From The Christian Science Monitor:

  Taiwan has relied heavily on US presidential support for its independent existence in a “one China” world, but recent steps toward warmer cross-Strait relations may mean Taiwan will need to depend less on Barack Obama when he’s president.

  Earlier this month, China’s Chen Yun-lin became the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the island since Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland in 1949.

  Mr. Chen, the Chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), was in Taipei for a five-day visit that marked a major diplomatic thaw after eight years of tension during the presidency of independence-minded Chen Shui-bien. The meeting featured four China-Taiwan agreements providing for direct air, shipping, and postal links, and food safety.

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  • November 24, 2008 5:56 PM

• Several Thousand Rally in Support of Taiwan’s Chen

  

  From AP:

  Several thousand demonstrators waved flags and chanted in Taiwan’s capital Saturday to protest the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian on graft allegations.

  Judges ordered the 57-year-old Chen jailed Nov. 12, and he has refused solid food since then. Chen denies allegations of money laundering and embezzling money from a presidential fund and says the government of President Ma Ying-jeou is persecuting him for his anti-China views.

  Many supporters waved small flags at a Taipei park Saturday reading “Taiwan is our country.” Some wore headbands saying “Stop judicial persecution” and chanted “Cheers for A-bian,” Chen’s nickname.

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  • November 23, 2008 12:51 AM

• China, Taiwan Hold Historic Meeting

  

  From AFP:

  Chinese President Hu Jintao met here with a senior Taiwan envoy in the highest-level meeting to take place overseas between the rivals since their split in 1949.

  Taiwan’s former premier Lien Chan, who is honorary chairman of the island’s ruling Kuomintang party, met with Hu for about 40 minutes at a hotel in Lima, Peru, where leaders are meeting for an Asia-Pacific summit.

  Officials in Taiwan’s summit delegation called it the highest-level meeting in an international setting since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after losing China’s civil war to the communists.

  “It is very significant for old friends to meet far away from Asia,” Lien, who has met Hu twice in China this year, told reporters after the meeting.

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  • November 22, 2008 2:18 AM

• Jailed Taiwanese Ex-leader Hospitalized

  

  From AP:

  Authorities took former Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian from his jail cell to a hospital Sunday when a doctor detected an irregular heartbeat following Chen’s five-day hunger strike over his arrest on corruption charges.

  A prison doctor examined 57-year-old Chen on Sunday and recommended his hospitalization, said Lee Ta-chu, an official at Tucheng Jail, where Chen had been held in solitary confinement since Wednesday while prosecutors investigate graft allegations against him.

  Chen “is having difficulty breathing and is complaining of pain on the left side of his chest,” Lee told The Associated Press. The former president was conscious when taken to the hospital, he said.

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  • November 16, 2008 10:45 PM

• Taiwan’s Former President Jailed in Corruption Probe

  

  Chen Shui-bian was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of corruption. From the Christian Science Monitor:

  The detention of the defiant nationalist comes amid a warming trend in cross-strait relations under the current, China-friendly president Ma Ying-jeou. Last week China and Taiwan signed another raft of economic agreements during a visit by a top Chinese negotiator, though the visit was marred by violent anti-China protests here.

  While Chen has not been charged with any crime, he is suspected of embezzling millions in public funds while he was president, and laundering that money by wiring it to foreign bank accounts. Two of his key aides and others have been detained without charge in the case, and his wife is also a suspect.

  The ex-president has admitted that his wife wired $20 million to foreign bank accounts, but denies any wrongdoing. He claimed in an August press conference that the money was leftover campaign donations, that he didn’t know about his wife’s massive wire transfers until early this year, and that when he learned of the transfers he decided to donate all the money to further Taiwan’s diplomacy.

  
  Taipei Times reports on different reactions from Taiwanese upon hearing news of his arrest. Some loyal to Chen began protesting, whereas others lit firecrackers in celebration. Additionally, the article goes into what could be a more serious political split in Taiwan:

  DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the current political atmosphere had driven the authorities to take Chen Shui-bian into custody, and that meant the former president would not be subject to a fair and independent investigation.

  He said prosecutors had purposely staged the scene showing Chen Shui-bian bound in handcuffs as it would leave the public with a negative impression of all DPP politicians.

  Gao said that not a single KMT government official had been detained in handcuffs in the last 10 years, and that included Ma, who was indicted on corruption charges over the use of his special allowance fund during his stint as Taipei mayor.

  “Such an action is meant to humiliate the DPP,” Gao said.

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  • November 11, 2008 6:00 PM

• Taiwanese Students Protest ‘Parade and Assembly Law’

  

  Around 500 Taiwanese students gathered on Nov. 6 to protest police action taken against pro-Taiwan independence activists during the recent visit of Chinese envoy Chun Yunlin. They condemned the government for acting like a police state and demanded that it apologize and amend the Parade and Assembly Law. I-fan Lin has translated some relevant blog posts at Global Voices Online:

  The current law restricts the right of citizens to peaceably assemble, by forcing them to apply for permits which the government may deny at will after reviewing the protest topic, allows the government unrestricted rights to close off large areas from protesters, and allows police to forcibly disperse protesters even if they are not violent. The students are demanding the law be revised to require the government to grant permits upon receiving an application without the current content review (”government shall grant a permit” vs. the current “government may grant a permit”), while requiring police to follow the rule of law and due process in all arrests and detentions. In other words, the law should protect the rights of protesters - not restrict them.

  I-fan Lin writes that similar student protests are being organized elsewhere in Taiwan:

  In front of National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, some students started a sit-in to support the student protest in Taipei. They will carry on the sit-in until the government responds. Students in Hsin-Chu and Tai-Chung also started to gather together.

  

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  • November 10, 2008 5:57 PM

• Safety-wary China Officials Cancel Taiwan Trips: KMT

  

  Three groups in China have canceled official trips to Taiwan following the violent protests that accompanied mainland envoy Chen Yunlin’s trip there last week. From Reuters:

  Safety fears prompted the groups to call off trips to Taiwan, said Nationalist Party (KMT) spokeswoman Chen Shu-jung.

  “There are groups from China that have canceled,” said Chen, whose party has kept close contact with China’s Communist Party over the past three years.

  [...] Among the cancellations is a visit planned for Tuesday by a vice-mayor of Chongqing, a giant municipality in southwest China, Taiwan’s United Daily News said. China’s central government rejected the trip, the paper said.

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  • November 9, 2008 10:25 PM

• Taiwan’s Ma to Meet Mainland Envoy in Historic Visit

  

  After being trapped inside a Taipei hotel with thousands of pro-Taiwanese activists waiting outside on Thursday, China’s top envoy to Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, will meet with the island’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, on the last day of his historic visit. From Bloomberg:

  Taiwan’s future will be decided by its 23 million people, Ma said today at a press briefing in Taipei ahead of his meeting with Chen. This week’s talks don’t threaten the island’s sovereignty, they benefit both sides, he said. Ma said his meeting with Chen won’t involve any negotiations.

  China considers Taiwan part of its territory, making cross- strait diplomacy a delicate dance of words and moves since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang government was defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist forces in 1949. Taiwanese newspapers have been speculating how Chen will address Ma during their meeting.

  Calling Ma “President” could be read to mean that he recognizes Taiwan’s sovereignty; addressing him as “Mr.” may be too informal.

  Taiwan’s China Post newspaper today reported, without identifying sources, that both sides have held several rounds of talks about the so-called title issue, which the newspaper said is one of the most sensitive matters in cross-strait relations.

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  • November 5, 2008 8:09 PM

• China Envoy in Taiwan Trapped in Hotel by Protesters

  

  A Chinese envoy was trapped inside of a hotel today as an angry mob of pro-Taiwanese independence activists scuffled with police outside. From AFP:

  Chen, the most senior Chinese official to visit the self-ruled island in 60 years, finally left the Regent Hotel in the early hours after police struggled to keep back more than 2,000 protesters venting their anger at his visit.

  A staff member at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, where Chen is staying, confirmed the envoy returned at about 2:30am (1830 GMT Wednesday).

  Earlier, at least one policeman was injured in scuffles with the protesters, said the TVBS news channel.

  Television footage also showed angry demonstrators surrounding a Chinese television reporter late Wednesday in an attempt to prevent her from leaving the hotel before the police intervened.

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  • November 5, 2008 5:09 PM

• More Food Safety Issues for China

  

  Food safety issues continue to plague China.  Chinese media claims that officials in southwestern China tried to cover-up a maggot outbreak in oranges.

  The problem came to national attention in recent days via text messages warning of the affected fruits, but authorities in Sichuan province knew as early as September 23, the Beijing News said.

  The report said authorities in the city of Guangyuan were told of the problem two days after it was first discovered in tens of thousands of trees in the area…“Word of the problem affected sales of mandarin oranges nationwide, but Sichuan’s provincial agriculture authorities did not hold a news conference on the subject for a full month afterward,” it said.

  The report said local Sichuan authorities took some measures to control the problem, but numerous Chinese media reports have said the affected fruits continued to be sold across the country for weeks afterward.

  Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues its crack-down on animal feed producers who add melamine to their products.

  Inspection teams have descended on feed makers nationwide in a “punishment” campaign to ferret out those found using excessive amounts of the chemical melamine, Agriculture Ministry official Wang Zhicai said in remarks posted on the ministry’s Web site and carried by state media Saturday.

  Among the quarter of a million feed-makers and animal breeding farms inspected, inspectors found more than 500 engaged in illegal or questionable practices, with police further investigating 27 companies, Wang said. He likened the behavior of some of the companies to organized crime, calling them “black nests of gangsters.”…A little more than a year ago, China vowed to minimize the use of melamine after it was found in pet food exports that killed dogs and cats in North America in 2007. Following that, Wang, the agricultural official, said China adopted “a rigorous standard” for melamine’s use — 2 parts per million. Since the milk contamination was exposed in September, inspectors have redoubled efforts to enforce that 2007 standard, Wang said.  “Producers violating the law will be severely punished: they could have their licenses revoked and be handed over to law enforcement organs to be held legally responsible,” said Wang, who heads the Agriculture Ministry’s animal husbandry and livestock office.

  There have been reports that melamine has been routinely added to animal feed and may have spread throughout the food chain:

  Several state newspapers carried reports on Thursday suggesting that the addition of melamine to animal feed was widespread.

  ["]The feed industry seems to have acquiesced to agree on using the chemical to reduce production costs while maintaining the protein count for quality inspections,” the state-run China Daily said in an editorial.

  “We cannot say for sure if the same chemical has made its way into other types of food,” the newspaper added.

  The practice of mixing melamine into animal feed is an “open secret” in the industry, the Nanfang Daily reported.

  At the beginning of November, officials destroyed 3,600 tonnes of tainted feed.

  Meanwhile, representatives of the Chinese and Taiwanese governments are currently meeting in Taiwan to discuss cross-strait food safety.  Taiwanese politicians are becoming frustrated with Chinese officials over issues of food safety:

  Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) condemned his Chinese counterpart yesterday for stalling over the test results of melamine-tainted non-dairy creamers.

  The safety of Chinese food products was a hot topic at the legislature’s Health, Environment and Labor Committee during a review of the health department’s budget. Yeh came under fire from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators for the lack of information from Beijing on the tests of imported creamers.

  “I hereby express stern objections to China’s Ministry of Health,” Yeh said, adding that his department was pushing its Chinese counterpart on the issue every day and he did not know why there had been no reply… DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) accused the health department of being “helpless, weak and incapable” in the face of China’s “delaying tactics.” He demanded the department take more effective measures against China.

  See also past CDT posts on food safety.

  Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

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  • November 4, 2008 9:43 PM

• China and Taiwan Expand Accords

  

  Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taipei has ended successfully, with the establishment of new agreements that bring both sides closer. The New York Times reports:

  Chinese and Taiwanese officials signed agreements on Tuesday expanding charter flights, maritime shipping and cooperation on food safety issues, bringing their governments closer together as both struggle to overcome economic slowdowns.

  …

  The new transportation agreement raises to 108 from 36 the number of weekly round-trip charter flights, according to a summary of the agreement posted on a Web site run by the Taiwanese government. The flights are expected to run daily, with 21 cities on the mainland and eight in Taiwan receiving service.

  The planes will also fly in a direct line between cities over a route north of Taiwan. Charter flights between China and Taiwan currently take a longer route through Hong Kong airspace because of security concerns.

  …

  China and Taiwan will add direct cargo charter flights as well, with 60 scheduled per month.

  The two governments will also open direct shipping channels for passengers and cargo. China will open a total of 63 ports (48 seaports and 15 riverports), and Taiwan will open 11. To avoid political sensitivities, ships will not fly national flags.

  The two governments also agreed to expand free exchange of information regarding food safety issues. If any product is considered faulty or dangerous, a government will recall it and halt its shipment, according to the agreement.

  Chen also said China would give Taiwan two pandas at the end of the year. Panda diplomacy has been raised in the past, but was rejected by the former DPP-governing party.

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  • November 4, 2008 9:59 AM

• China, Taiwan Begin Historic Talks on Closer Ties

  

  AFP has an update on Chen Yunlin’s groundbreaking visit to Taipei:

  Beijing’s representative Chen Yunlin and his local counterpart Chiang Pin-kung shook hands as they took their seats at Taipei’s Grand Hotel for the discussions that are expected to ink deals potentially worth billions of dollars.

  “Now we are very close to agreement, and I hope we will reach a consensus this afternoon on shipping, air transport, postal services and food security,” said Chiang, who head’s Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

  Late Monday, the two sides announced they had agreed to triple direct passenger flights to 108 per week and expand services to a total of 21 Chinese cities.

  The Democratic Progressive Party is protesting the talks. From China Post:

  DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen demanded that the Chiang-Chen meeting, which is scheduled to start today, be open and transparent.

  “The entire process should be made public,” Tsai urged.

  Oversight by parliament and the general public is necessary over the meeting, where the four agreements on direct flights, mail service, direct shipping and food safety will be inked, Tsai stressed.

  Meanwhile, Taiwanese journalists, via the Association of Taiwan Journalists, are protesting their treatment by the National Security Bureau during the talks. From China Post:

  In a statement, the ATJ charged the NSB with trying to limit freedom of press workers covering a visit to Taipei by Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

  On Sunday, the day before Chen’s arrival, a Central News Agency cameraman was manhandled by NSB agents, while he was covering a function of Chen’s advance party at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.

  Read also Xinhua’s backgrounder on the talks.

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  • November 3, 2008 10:02 PM

• Young Taiwanese Fear Authoritarian Revival

  

  Current action taken by Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jiu to establish closer ties with China as well as increased restrictions on public demonstration are leaving young Taiwanese worried about a possible retreat in the development of Taiwan’s democracy. The Taipei Times reports:

  Because of the arbitrariness of police action and how unclear the rules about what constitutes a violation of the law have become, “we don’t know what to expect. We don’t know if we’ll be arrested.”

  For many of them, such police action is new, as they were too young to remember when the nation was still under martial law.

  “Look at the [anti Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)] demonstrations by the ‘Red Shirts’ last year,” one said. “They were allowed to demonstrate for months, to camp at [Taipei Main Station] and the police didn’t bother them.”

  
  …

  “We’re pretty pessimistic,” another said. “Maybe some of us want to be arrested. It feels like it’s martial law all over again. Perhaps what the Ma government is doing by cracking down on dissent and freedom of speech is preparing the terrain” for a Taiwan that is part of China.

  In addition, Ma has also been accused of playing media favorites by only allowing certain media outlets to attend certain events. A group of pro-independence activists even inaugurated the Taiwanese Youth Anti-Communist National Salvations Corps who are worried about the direction Taiwan’s democracy is headed.

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  • November 2, 2008 11:17 PM