Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 6, 2007
Taiwan's population of 23 million is governed by a president and parliament chosen in multiparty elections. In 2004 President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was reelected in a close election. The opposition coalition made up of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) won 114 of the 225 Legislative Yuan (LY) seats. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The authorities generally respected the human rights of citizens; however, there continued to be problems reported in the following areas: corruption by officials, violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, and abuses of foreign workers.
Government Corruption and Transparency
There were allegations of government corruption during the year. However, the government continued to take action to combat corruption in the executive and judicial branches of government. Allegations of vote buying continued, although all political parties committed publicly to ending the practice.
In February regulations went into effect that required political appointees to the cabinet (Executive Yuan) and its subordinate agencies to place all financial assets into a trust within three months of assuming office and, for those already in office, within three months of the effective date of the regulations.
President Chen's son-in-law was indicted for insider trading and embezzlement in May. First lady Wu Shu-chen was also accused of questionable financial dealings. On June 27, the legislature rejected a motion to recall President Chen. In late July prosecutors began an investigation of alleged misuse of presidential office accounts by the president, his wife, and several officials from the presidential office. Two weeks of mass demonstrations took place in September calling for the president's resignation. On October 13, a second legislative motion to recall President Chen failed. The first lady was indicted for corruption, on November 3, as were several officials of the presidential office for offenses related to the alleged improper use of presidential office funds. Although not indicted because of presidential immunity, the president was named as an involved party. A third motion to recall President Chen failed on November 24.
During the year a number of senior government officials were also investigated for corruption, including former presidential office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan, former head of the cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Kong Jaw-sheng and former director general of the FSC's Examination Bureau, Lee Chin-chen, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for facilitating insider trading. Several senior Kaohsiung officials were named as suspects in the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation labor scandal. Keelung City mayor Hsu Tsai-li was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption. Several former vice ministers and deputy ministers were also under investigation for alleged corruption.
By November prosecutors had indicted 1,487 persons on various corruption charges and had convicted 1,252 persons. Of those accused, 77 were high-ranking government officials, 244 were mid-level, 394 were low-level, and 58 were elected officials.
In November 2005 the Public Officials Election and Recall Act was revised to stiffen penalties for those convicted of vote-buying. As a result, those convicted face a mandatory jail sentence of three to 10 years.
In December 2005 the LY passed the Access to Government Information Law. Under the law, all government information must be made available to the public upon request, except national secrets, professional secrets, personal information, and intellectual property rights. All citizens, including those living overseas, and all companies and groups registered in the country, as well as foreign citizens whose countries do not prohibit Taiwan citizens from applying for access to their government information, can submit information requests and can administratively appeal if such requests are denied.
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