Hong Kong’s Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Jailed, Could This Happen in Taiwan?

 Hong Kong’s Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Jailed, Could This Happen in Taiwan?

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

February 21, 2017

 Translation of an Except

Mr. Donald Tsang, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), was indicted on charges of receiving illicit gains and was ordered to be detained pending trial. Examining Donald Tsang’s "charges," and turning back to look at the behavior of Taiwan's political figures and the legal system for clean government and anti-corruption, we can straight-forwardly say that because Donald Tsang is living in Hong Kong, it is truly too tough for him. If he served in government in Taiwan, these so-called transgressions would mean nothing, let alone time in prison.

Donald Tsang's acts led to his detention in jail in Hong Kong, but in Taiwan, he would be let off scot-free.  The greatest difference lies in the differentiation in respective rule of law over clean government in the two localities. In Taiwan, the laws and regulations against graft and corruption of public functionaries are plentiful and detailed on the surface; however, in practice their effectiveness is limited, being completely incapable of governing under the table interchanges between illegal gains and illicit gains. Precisely because of this, Donald Tsang’s acts, for which he was indicted in Hong Kong, would become un-indictable in Taiwan.

Donald Tsang is in jail after being handcuffed. Looking back in Taiwan, we see the much tangled personal relationships between officials and businessmen, we see elected officials in derivative counsels at various levels openly fighting for special interest groups, as well as lobbying in cases of criminal justice, and we see elected officials using public funds to benefit their own factions. If we truly want to stamp out corruption, and reform the mal-administration in all levels of government, there is a need for some awakening on the part of the citizenry.

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