With His Performances, Tsai Pi-chung Is More than Qualified to Be the New Superintendant of “Dongchang”

 With His Performances, Tsai Pi-chung Is More than Qualified to Be the New Superintendant of “Dongchang”

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 30, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

Whichever political culture produces whichever political appointees. In the Chan Tong-kai incident, after the President, the Premier and various Cabinet ministers flip-flopped after having failed in coping with the case, the government could only rely on tough language and cracking whips to silence the detractors. Following Su Tseng-chang’s "devil talk", surprisingly there are still high officials, such as Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung, who defended Premier Su Tseng-chang in the Legislative Yuan, not only "substantiating" the devils, but also leveling charges against lawyers of "betraying national interests." A political appointee à la Tsai Pi-chung is indeed an eye-opener for many.

This time, Tsai Pi-chung played the role of hardcore bodyguard for Premier Su Tseng-chang, something that surprised no one. In the case of DPP legislator Chen Ming-wen’s loss of NT$3 million in cash on a High-Speed Rail train, Tsai Pi-chung rushed to the forefront to help extricate him, thus becoming a red hot man in the Tsai government. Before that, in cross-ministerial meetings, Tsai Pi-chung forcefully presented his legal opinions on the "blocking Kuan" case. Not only that, in September last year he was unusually designated as the acting county executive of Hualien County. In just a few short months, he churned a wave of charges, attempting to impact the prospects for the election of Hualien County executive. These honors bestowed on him produced a Tsai Pi-chung with “daredevil” capabilities as a hatchet man. Whenever others block the DPP, regardless of whether reasonable or not, he would spearhead to remove the barriers.

Recently, Tsai Pi-chung fired salvos against lawyers’ "devil deal." This has been described as the “resurrection of Dongchang.” In fact, the term "resurrection" is not accurate; the Tsai government's Dongchang has never disappeared; only the black hand has turned into small pieces, submerging into various government agencies from the original “Commission on Promoting Transformational Justice (CPTJ).” The establishment of CPTJ aimed at promoting "transformational justice." Chang Tien-chin and other members considered it as "Dongchang" to engage in struggles against other political parties. Since the resignation of TCPJ chairman Huang Huang-hsiung in October 2018, it has been a year, and the vacancies of the chairman and deputy chairman have not been filled. Tsai Pi-chung’s all-out performances one after another perhaps aim to prove to Tsai Ing-wen that he is the fittest candidate for Dongchang superintendant.

Whichever political culture produces whichever political appointees. Tsai Pi-chung is the product of the government’s tolerance and unleashing time and again. Now we have carrived at "upgraded Dongchang": without a need of trumped-up charges, it could condemn others through character assassination. Why doesn’t Tsai Ing-wen appoint Tsai Pi-chung to head the CPTJ, allowing the public to witness how "transformation justice" is merged and integrated with "Dongchang struggles"?

[Editor’s note: Dongchang was a Ming Dynasty secret police organization equivalent to the modern-day Gestapo.]

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