If There Should Be the Next Lee Ming-jer, How Would the Tsai Government Rescue Him?

  If There Should Be the Next Lee Ming-jer, How Would the Tsai Government Rescue Him?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 13, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

Through televised broadcasting, many people in Taiwan witnessed the trial proceedings of the former DPP party worker Lee Ming-jer at the court in Yueyang, Hunan Province. Facing charges of "subverting state power," Lee Ming-jer obediently "pleaded guilty" and "expressed remorse for his offences" in court; he even lauded the "civilized criminal prosecution" in stark contrast with his wife’shigh-profile attitude of rescue for the past six months.

What is worth reflection is, if there should be another Lee Ming-jer case, would the Tsai government have plans to offer more effective assistance or rescue? During the 177 days of Lee Ming-jer’s detention, the Tsai government seemed to have been helpless in dealing with the case. The relevant departments, on the one hand, were at a loss to understand the causes and consequences of the case, let alone offered Lee Ming-jer and his family any assistance, being completely mired in passivity with sheer embarrassment. The Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation recently arranged Lee’s family members’ trip to the Mainland to observe the trial, claiming that they acted "based on the wishes of the family" and "rescuing Lee as the first priority"; in reality, they were sandwiched between the diametrically opposed stances of Lee Ming-jer’s wife and mother, eliciting dissatisfaction from NGO figures who had participated in the rescue efforts. Faced with grievances from three prongs, their embarrassment was inevitable.

Lee Ming-jer’s case showed high dramatics, but it should not only be considered as a political drama. The Tsai government must at least break through channels of cross-Strait communication, and before the occurrence of another Lee Ming-jer case, deploying the tools of making effective representations.

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