The Tsai Gov’t “Rejects the Surrender of Suspect” Chan Tung-kai, Pretending that It Never Asked for His Repatriation to Taiwan

 The Tsai Gov’t “Rejects the Surrender of Suspect” Chan Tung-kai, Pretending that It Never Asked for His Repatriation to Taiwan

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 21, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Chan Tung-kai, a Hong Kong man who murdered his girlfriend in Taiwan, recently indicated that he would be willing to come to Taiwan to surrender himself to the authorities, and the Hong Kong government also stated that it would arrange his trip to Taiwan for trial. Who knew, the Tsai government bluntly rejected the offer and caught everybody by surprise and bewilderment.

The Tsai government’s attitude toward the Chan Tung-kai case is passive and flip-flopping, causing utter astonishment to everybody. The public have not forgotten that the Hong Kong movement against the repatriation amendment to the “Fugitive Offenders Ordinance” has caused the current situation to become a difficult to end; the original fuse was our request to repatriate Chan Tung-kai to Taiwan to face justice, which prompted the Hong Kong government to amend the “Fugitive Offenders Ordinance” to include Taiwan within the mechanisms for “mutual legal assistance in judicial matters” [previously denied to Macau and Mainland China in addition to Taiwan.] However, the Hong Kong government miscalculated the situation, expanding the scope of repatriation to Mainland China, igniting Hong Kongers’ fury and mass protests. Now, the “anti-repatriation to Mainland China” movement has continued burning for half a year, without any hint of stopping, and Chan Ting-kai, who the Hong Kong court only lightly convicted and sentenced on misdemeanor of "money laundering”, will soon be released from prison, but is willing to face trial in Taiwan after being counseled by a pastor. Who knew, it is now the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) under the Cabinet that indicates “rejecting his repatriation”, in one stroke the MAC has shut out Taiwan's judicial jurisdiction.

It was Taiwan’s failed request to repatriate suspect Chan for trial that ignited the “anti-repatriation to Mainland China” movement. Now the suspect is willing to stand trial in Taiwan, but the MAC, nevertheless, "rejects his repatriation to Taiwan.” Such ironic change has completely exposed the Tsai government’s meticulously calculated machinations. The principal reason is that in the half year’s rumblings of Hong Kong's “anti-repatriation to Mainland China” movement, the Tsai government has picked up countless guns and cannons, leading Taiwan's political picture completely covered by gun smoke in Hong Kong, sweeping under the rug the Tsai government's wrongful policies, misplaced appointments, and selfish partisanship. Under such circumstances, once Chan Tung-kai truly agrees to be repatriated to Taiwan for trial, not only would all circles shift their attention to Taiwan’s proceedings of judicial trial, the Tsai government would be worried that the smoke screen of the “anti-repatriation to Mainland China” could probably dissipate. Thus, the DPP would no longer have the free gifts of "picking up guns" out of the blue.

During the course of the “anti-repatriation to Mainland China” movement, the Tsai government has endlessly prided itself on Taiwan's freedom and rule of law; quite a few Hong Kong residents also believe in Taiwan's democracy. Then, in the trial over Chan Tung-kai's murder case, the Tsai government must produce acts of democracy and the rule of law, with no room for evasion.

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