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Taiwan, a corrupt country.   

"cleaning house " or   anti-corruption crackdown ?     

　


　

 

　

　
War On The Rocks (2024-9-20): Washington is quietly watching how Taiwan's new president Lai consolidates power, using the court to prosecute former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan over corruption allegations.  Cheng's arrest reflects an intra-party political struggle between a pair of long-time rivals.  The arrest and detention of Taiwan People's Party chairman and former Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je on corruption charges, as well as a number of corruption cases involving Kuomintang (KMT) officials have Lai's critics protesting that he is using the judiciary to persecute rivals.  Washington observers might worry that Lai is undermining the independence of the judicial system...

Targeting selected individual or group is tantamount to a persecution.  Lai should promote judicial reform, as well as crackdown corruption, particularly corrupt DPP.

　

　

Financial Times (2024-9-6):  Prosecutors' swift moves against Cheng Wen-tsan and Ko have prompted Taiwanese commentators to question whether Lai was “cleaning house” of political rivals or pushing an anti-corruption crackdown to win back public support , and at the same time divert attention from the current chaos in domestic politics.    Investigators in Taiwan have detained former presidential candidate Ko Wen-je, the second prominent politician to be hit with a corruption probe since President Lai Ching-te took office in May.

"Coincidently", both chair of TPP, Ko Wei-je and Cheng Wen-tsan (former vice premier)  are chair of DPP Lai Ching-te's political reval or political enemy.   (Council on Foreign relations, 2024-9-5: Ko was widely seen as having outperformed expectations and as someone who would again run for president. Independent UK, 2024-7-12: Mr Cheng was seen as a potential presidential contender.  )  Nikkei Asian Review (Japan, 2024-9-5): expert warned that the DPP will go after the KMT (No.1 opposition party) once the threat posed by Ko is removed. "Ko is just the appetizer in the mouth of the DPP gluttons.

　

Only these two top politicians have "palm grease" problem ? 

Certainly not !


Taiwan is a corrupt country.   

　

★  1.  Ruling party   
♦ Washington Post (2024-5-20):  The ruling party (DPP)  has faced corruption scandals.  
♦ Washington Post (2023-11-24):  Public grievances against the ruling party have bubbled up during Tsai's presidency, which has been hit by corruption scandals...   
♦ New York Times (2024-1-10): the frustration voters feel about out-of-control Taiwan ... government corruption. 
♦ According to Transparency International, Germany - Global Corruption Barometer, released in 2022, 90% Taiwanese think government  corruption  is a big problem, this percentage is higher than that in Japan, S. Korea, China and Malaysia.
♦ Financial Times (UK, 2024-9-6): Taiwan slid last year in Transparency International's global corruption perceptions index, and its score dropped slightly for the first time since Lai's DPP predecessor Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.  Opposition accusations of DPP officials abusing their positions and engaging in corruption contributed to Lai receiving the lowest winning vote share in 24 years in a three-way presidential race.
♦ The China Times (Taiwan, 2023-6-26): The ruling party, DPP's corruption was structural, collective and overall (結構性、集體性、全面性貪腐) ;  a bunch of vote-brokers, officials, law makers get involved; DPP's corruption has already crossed the bottom line, and is out of control.

♦ United Daily (Taiwan, 2023-6-26): DPP got involved in many cases such as 光電案、超思進口雞蛋案、小吃店採購快篩案、疫苗案、口罩案...  but the prosecutors has not done anything to them.  Selective handling of cases by double standards, is nothing but political persecution (政治追殺)。

　

★  2.  Local politicians and high-level politicians 

♦ Diplomat  (2024-9-11): The allegations against the former presidential candidate raise questions about pervasive corruption at all levels of government.  Corruption and patronage, according to How, are “in the DNA” of local politics.  “All the money laundering and things like that can be done by these local officials for their big brothers (legislators) in the legislature” , “Because the local politicians don’t need to make their wealth public.”  “Almost all  [high-level] politicians come from local politics, ”A bottom-up spoils system is thus cultivated"...
♦ After Cheng Wen-tsan (Bloomberg, 2024-7-12: the highest-profile graft probe in the democratically run archipelago since President Chen Shui-bian in 2008. ) was detained,  DPP's factions except Lai's faction  and KMT, TPP should be scary,  according to United Daily (Taiwan, 2024-7-10).

　

★  3.  Taiwan military

♦ Economist (UK, 2022-8-2): Taiwan needs to do more to combat corruption and waste in its armed forces)。 
♦ Axios (2022-6-28):  Scandals and corruption have plagued the Taiwanese armed forces  axios.com/2022/06/28/taiwan-military-defense-weapons-china-invasion-threat

　

★  4.  Taiwan judiciary

♦ TaiwanPlus (2023-3-6): a majority said they believed prosecutors engage in corruption behaviour when handling cases.   msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/taiwan-poll-finds-widespread-public-mistrust-of-prosecutors-taiwanplus-news/vi-AA18glWE    
 ♦ Transparency International (Germany) - Global Corruption Barometer released in 2022: The percentage of judges, magis-trates corruption is higher than that in China and Japan.

◆

★  5.  Taiwan police

 According to Transparency International, Germany - Global Corruption Barometer, released in 2022, the percentage of Taiwanese paying a bribe to police, 67%, is far higher than  China (18%)、Japan (10%) 、S. korea (8%).

　

Why does the prosecution select Ko Wen-je ?? 

　

Asia Times  (2024-8-23) article "Taiwan's Lai Ching-te consolidating power " already concluded that Cheng's arrest is reflective of an intense intra-DPP political struggle between a pair of long-time rivals.  A tense personal history has pushed Lai Ching-te to “punish” Cheng Wen-tsan after gaining power.  asiatimes.com/2024/08/taiwans-lai-consolidating-power-before-turning-to-china/   Besides, Cheng is widely believed guilty.
But Ko is different (till present 2024-9-18).   Who will have advantage or benefit if Ko goes to jail?

　

★  1.  Presidential election rival

　

Council on Foreign relations (2024-9-5): Although Ko lost the 2024 presidential election, he was widely seen as having outperformed expectations and as someone who would again run for president.  Al Jazeera  (2024-9-2):   Ko is widely seen as a contender for the next election in 2028.    SCMP (2024-9-7): “If Ko is found guilty of corruption, it is foreseeable that Ko will have little chance of making a political comeback.”.

　

★  2.  Power balance

　

US News & World Report  (2024-9-1), Reuters (2024-9-2): The TPP has only eight lawmakers in Taiwan's 113-seat parliament but has an outsized role as neither the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nor the largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has a majority.  Council on Foreign relations (2024-9-5): TPP controls the balance of power. As scrutiny of Ko and the TPP intensify, dynamics in the legislature could shift, with implications for President Lai Ching-te's agenda.   TPP has aligned with the KMT, pushing through a controversial plan to expand the legislature's powers and questioning Lai's proposed policies, including his plan to build additional submarines.  
Asia Nikkei (Japan, 2024-9-5): The TPP's woes come as its coalition with the KMT is locked in a showdown with the DPP.  The opposition has sought to clip the wings of Lai's government, threatening to vote down budgets and public appointments  Asia Nikkei (Japan, 2024-9-11): The TPP and its larger opposition partner, KMT, have been a thorn in the side of the pro-sovereignty Lai's fledgling administration.

Expert says the TPP is essentially a "one-man party" built on Ko's charisma.  This might be a reason the prosecution selects Ko.

　

★  3.  Law-makers
Council on Foreign relations (2024-9-5):  if these TPP legislators conclude that the TPP's days are numbered, they may become free agents open to working with the DPP.

SCMP (2024-9-7): "If Ko does fall from grace and his party loses support, it could struggle to retain its 5 per cent of the vote for seats in Taiwan's legislature in the 2028 elections", “If it fails to cross the 3 per cent threshold, the TPP could fizzle out like the New Power Party”.

　

★  4.  Young Taiwanese

Council on Foreign relations (2024-9-5): As a presidential candidate, Ko built a base among energized young Taiwanese, receiving 3.69 million votes (26.5 percent ).  In previous two presidential elections, young Taiwanese were DPP's base.

　

★  5.  China factor

Nikkei Asian Review (Japan, 2024-9-11): Beijing wades into Taipei drama over corruption probe against TPP leader and has accused Taiwan's president of persecuting Beijing-leaning revals...  'Since Lai Ching-te admin came to power, it has repeatedly manipulated judicial and administrative means, used public weapons for private purposes, opposed party members and dissenters, and created "green terror" on the island', Chinese gov. said.

　

Political persecution ? 

　

At 2024-9-2 , Ko Wen-je told Taiwan's media that he experienced "extreme oppression, mistreatment & abuses" (「極盡壓迫跟凌虐」) by prosecutors during two days' detention...   udn.com/news/story/124199/8200282?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub124199_pulldownmenu_v2.  The Diplomat, 2024-9-3: The TPP increasingly began leaning into the narrative that Ko's arrest was a form of political persecution...

　

★  1.  Scary political struggle

Dr. Shelley Rigger, scholar of Davidson College said: "(political struggles in Taiwan is) frightening to me".   chinatimes.com/opinion/20240913004217-262101?chdtv

The China Times (2024-9-13) comments that the prosecution detained the chair of the 2nd largest opposition party without any solid evidence, obviously...   The China Times (2024-9-14): Despite of no evidence, the prosecutors wrote detention document ─ Ko Wen-je violated Anti-Corruption Act - Article 4 (Demanding, taking or promising to take bribes or other unlawful profits by the acts that violate the official duties...... "第4條「違背職務受賄」" )  chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20240914

　

★  2.  Shame parade thru. streets

United Daily (Taiwan, 2024-9-13): Taiwan's top professor says that the way media report Ko is like  "Shame parades through the streets",  dusty old political theatrics that communist Chinese Red Guards used during the Cultural Revolution, 1966 ~  (變成對待政敵的紅衛兵式的鬥爭，如同遊街公審).

★  3.  To obtain confession by detention

United Daily (2024-9-13): While supporting former president Chen Shui-bian a few years ago, Lai Ching-te said that obtaining confessions by detention is human rights abuses and violating "procedural justice"; but now different standard is applied for Ko Wen-je?

udn.com/news/story/124199/8225042?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub124199_pulldownmenu_v2
(賴清德總統以前聲援前總統陳水扁時曾說押人取供違反程序正義、踐踏人權，如今同一套標準，怎對柯文哲不一樣？)
The purpose of detention is to preserve evidence, not to detain people to obtain confessions.

　

★  4.  Human rights issue
Asia Nikkei (Japan, 2024-9-5): Ko said his meals consisted of two pieces of bread and a drink. "For three days, I had to sleep on the floor, and there was no shower or bed available. The lights were never turned off so the detainee will quickly lose the sense of time," he said. "Those who haven't been convicted, and are merely in remand, should not be treated in such a manner. This is inconsistent with human rights."

　

　


　

　

Persecutions or human rights abuse is worse than bribery.  President Lai Ching-te said he is against political persecution before taking the power earlier this year, but now, are those persecution archives in recent 30-40 years declassified ?

2024-9-18


Chinese version


　

"Taiwan corruption (台灣貪汙)" ranks No.1 on Microsoft Bing, 2024-10-1, 2024-9-30, 2024-9-29, 2024-9-28

　

"台灣貪汙腐敗"排名Microsoft Bing第一, 2024-10-1, 2024-9-22, 2024-9-19, 9-16

　

"台灣貪汙腐敗"排名Yahoo第一, 2024-9-22, 2024-9-17