Sentence Parsing

It was a week of convictions here in Taiwan, with the KMT meting out...well, justice probably isn't the right word...

First up, the story that got missed: KNN reports that General Yuan Shiao-lung received a heavy sentence for allegedly bribing a con man NT$6 million. All he bought was ten years in the slammer. Yuan was one of a number of generals who rose during the Chen years to be caught up in such scandals -- critics allege that the KMT simply wants to make a clean sweep of everyone promoted under Chen.

Yesterday the Taipei Times reported that former President Chen Shui-bian's wife got sentenced to merely a year which turns out to be community service....

Although they do not qualify for a scheme that lets those convicted to terms of six months or less pay a fine rather than serve jail time, they will be able to take advantage of a new program that allows convicts to do community service rather than go to jail.

Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), convicted for instigating perjury, received a one-year jail sentence, which was half the sentence following commutation.

As the former first family committed perjury before April 24, 2007, and because the offenses they committed were eligible for commutation, they met the requirements of the 2007 Sentence Commutation (罪犯減刑條例) and had their sentences reduced by half.

The best they can do is a year for perjury? This sentence appears to be more or less an admission that they don't have anything on Wu. It is difficult to see what this portends for the case of Chen Shui-bian....the KMT has already indicated, with the totally unnecessary detentions and the replacement of a judge who ruled in a way the KMT didn't like, that Chen is to be destroyed.

Many thanks to all who have spoken out on these cases and on the judicial processes here, from Ma mentor Jerome Cohen, who has written several towering missives in influential international publications, to the scholars who have signed four open letters to the Ma Administration, to the locals who have fought the good fight. It is impossible to know for certain, but it is hard to imagine they didn't have an effect.

From the political standpoint, the key case in that pile yesterday wasn't actually Wu, whose conviction was a foregone conclusion, and whose reputation has already been comprehensively smeared, but rather that of Diana Chen....

Diana Chen received the full sentence of one year and six months because she committed perjury after Apr. 24, 2007, and therefore did not qualify for a reduced sentence. Her refusal to admit to the charges against her in exchange for a lighter sentence also resulted in her receiving a longer prison sentence than the others.

Prosecutors said she purposely gave false testimony during questioning last year about the former first family’s alleged money-­laundering activities. They also said Diana Chen bribed the former first lady with NT$10 million (US$300,000) to obtain her position as chairwoman of Taipei Financial Center Corp.

Chen, who is smart, competent, and totally hot (more info + pic), will do a year and six months because she insisted she was innocent. While prosecutors alleged she bribed Wu, bribery is difficult to prove and prosecutors apparently had to settle for perjury. The point of the case was apparently not to win, but simply to smear Chen and move her out of her then-current position as Chair of the Taipei Financial Center Corp, a position Someone Connected apparently wanted. The China Post lays out some of the ins-and-outs of the case, yet another involving the Koo family, in this article. Chen has already said that she will go into politics on the DPP side once she serves her sentence. ADDED: As a commenter below reminds, the other reason they went after Diana Chen was because she was a big donor to the DPP. That sends a signal to other businesspeople about which party they should be donating to.
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Daily Links

• Andrew Leonard discusses the Prius' dependence on rare earth elements from China.
• Karen C passed around this link to an amazing Taiwanese sign language dictionary.
• Taiwan What's Up! newsletter is out.
• Nothing like smashing the Dalai Lama in effigy to show who you really are.
• Daily Bubble Tea has links, and lovely photos for today.
• Jon Adams in FEER on the Dalai Lama's visit.
• The EU Chamber of Commerce says China is backsliding on opening its market to foreign firms. What? Our Good Cooperation Partner and Peaceful Riser^© not keeping a promise to foreigners? Who could have imagined that?
• BTW -- if you get the email about barcodes and Made in China/Taiwan, it's an urban legend.
  

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