Politics & Law
Taiwan Politics Review – Ko Wen-je accused of corruption
Significant developments over the past month: Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je detained in corruption investigation, more politicians accused or convicted of crimes, new nominees to the Judicial Yuan, Taiwan politicians travel, and more…
By Ross Darrell Feingold
Ko Wen-je detained in corruption investigation
Former Taipei City mayor and current (though on leave) Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an eventful few days in late August and early September. Starting on 29 August 2024 Ko took a three month leave of absence from the party, on 30 August 2024 Ko’s home and office were searched and Ko was questioned by prosecutors, on 31 August 2024 Ko was arrested by prosecutors and a judge ruled the arrest was legal, in the early morning hours of 2 September 2024 a District Court judge released Ko without bail, on 4 September 2024 following a prosecutors appeal the High Court (the intermediary appellate court in Taiwan’s three tiered judiciary) revoked the District Court ruling to release Ko without bail and sent the detention request back to the District Court, and finally, on 5 September 2024 the District Court ruled that Ko should be held incommunicado without bail. Under Taiwan’s Code of Criminal Procedure (available in English and Mandarin), Ko can be detained up to four months, and Ko instructed his lawyers not to appeal the detention.
The case arises from the Taipei City government, during Ko’s second term as mayor, having approved an increase of the floor area ratio to 840% from 560% for the office building being built to replace the former Core Pacific City mall (also known as Living Mall). This is unrelated (as of now) to investigations into reporting errors in the financial reports of Ko’s presidential campaign (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2024).
Also detained in the case are Core Pacific Group Chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), Taipei City Councillor Angela Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) (Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT) – Zhong Zheng – Wanhua Constituency), and former Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲). Prosecutors have accused Ying of receiving NT$47 million from Shen in return for Ying pressuring relevant decisionmakers in the Taipei City government to approve the floor area ratio increase.
Television coverage of the investigation has been frenzied at times, with certain stations claiming to have exclusives based on information obtained from prosecutors, who are now investigating at least one reporter over her alleged claims that she obtained inside information about the investigation.
Analysis: Article 6, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Anti-Corruption Act (available in English and Mandarin) criminalizes “Directly or indirectly seeking unlawful gains for oneself or for others in matters under his charge or supervision while clearly knowing the act violates the law, the statutes or orders authorized by the law, the mandate of the position, the self-governance statute, the self-governance regulations, the rules of commission, or the code for regulating unspecified people that have the effect of the law and thereby having gained profits.”
In other words, it’s a crime when an officeholder takes action that results in unlawful gains for others, and payment of a bribe is not required for a crime to be committed. To date, prosecutors have yet to (publicly at least) allege Sheen paid a bribe to Ko. Ironically, in 2017 during a judicial reform process, the Judicial Yuan had proposed reforms to this section of the law due to its vagueness, but the Legislative Yuan did not act on this.
The TPP periodically publishes English-language updates and defences of Ko on the party’s Facebook, X, and YouTube accounts. This includes an English statement posted to X on 5 September 2006, and a lengthy English language video posted to YouTube on 6 September 2024.
It’s too early to forecast what this means for the TPP’s future. Regardless of what happens to Ko, the party has eight legislators who will serve until January 2028, and these legislators can be the deciding votes on legislation depending on attendance and if either the KMT or Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has defections on any specific vote. However, the recent history of Taiwan’s third parties that revolved around a single person is informative. The People’s First Party led by James Soong Chu-yu (宋楚瑜), the Taiwan Solidarity Union whose spiritual leader was former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and the New Power Party which benefited from the star power of musician Freddy Lim Tshiong-tso (林昶佐), all faded after early electoral success.
Politicians sentenced, searched
On 20 August 2024, Chiu Tsui-yi (邱垂益), a former mayor of what was Taipei County’s Zhonghe City at the time was sentenced to 10 years in jail, and his son, Chiu Feng-yao (邱烽堯) was sentenced to three years and six months in jail, over illicit gains made from a land development project. The Chius are KMT members.
On 21 August 2024, Ann Kao Hung-an (高虹安) (TPP), the currently suspended Hsinchu City mayor (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2024) was sentenced to a 10-month jail term for making malicious accusations against a US-based scholar who accused her of plagiarism in her PhD thesis; the Taipei District Court ruled that Kao "clearly knew" that her thesis was "extensively" plagiarized, yet still filed suit against Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮) for aggravated defamation in 2022.
On 21 August 2024, the Changhua District Prosecutors Office detained seven government officials for alleged involvement in green energy-related corruption cases. The detained individuals are officials in the township offices and township representative offices in Changhua County’s Chutang Township, and Yunlin County’s Erlun Township.
On 22 August 2022, Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) (DPP - Tainan 4th Constituency) and five subordinates were released on bail, after investigators searched Lin's legislative office in Taipei and her constituency service center in Tainan. Lin and 19 other individuals are suspected of embezzlement of legislative assistant salaries.
On 27 August 2024, prosecutors indicted former Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and sought a 12 year jail sentence for his alleged receipt of a bribe when he served as Taoyuan City mayor (see Taiwan Politics Review, 16 July 2024). Cheng was released on NT$28 million bail the next day.
Also on 27 August 2024, Legislator Sra Kacaw (鄭天財) (KMT - Lowland Indigenous Constituency) was released on bail of NT$2,000,000 after being questioned for hours by prosecutors as part of a corruption probe. Prosecutors accused him of receiving several million New Taiwan dollars in bribes from green energy companies between 2020 and 2023.
Analysis: Suspended Mayor Kao now faces a double hurdle to returning to office, with convictions for both corruption and malicious prosecution. However, given the TPP’s crisis at the chairman level, defending Kao in the court of public opinion is unlikely to be a priority for the TPP.
Replacement MOTC minister named
On 29 August 2024, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) named Cabinet spokesperson Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) as the new Minister of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) a role left vacant after Li Men-yen (李孟諺) resigned following the revelation of an extramarital affair (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2024). Chen also served as a spokesperson for Lai’s presidential campaign.
Analysis: Chen was a Taichung City Councillor between 2010 and 2022 and has also held a number of politically appointed positions at party headquarters and local party committees. He does not have on point experience in transportation or communications. For the public, one issue Chen must confront is ongoing concerns about pedestrian safety. On 2 July 2024, the MOTC published in English “Policy guidelines for pedestrian traffic safety (2023-2027)”.
Judicial Yuan nominees
On 30 August 2024, President Lai transmitted to the Legislative Yuan seven nominees for the Judicial Yuan (i.e., Taiwan’s Constitutional Court) to replace seven current justices whose term expires on 31 October 2024. The Judicial Yuan has 15 members in total.
The nominee for president of the Judicial Yuan, National Taiwan University law professor Chang Wen-chen (張文貞), as recently as 6 August 2024 argued in the Constitutional Court on behalf of the government and DPP Legislative Yuan caucus in their challenge to the expansion of Legislative Yuan powers that the legislature passed earlier this year (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2024). The nominee for vice president of the Judicial Yuan, Yao Li-ming (姚立明), served as director of Lai's presidential campaign headquarters in the 2024 presidential election. Some of the other nominees have also served in politically appointed positions during the administration of Tsai Ing-wen (DPP) between 2016 and 2024.
Analysis: The KMT and TPP immediately indicated their opposition to the nominees. With a combined KMT-TPP majority in the Legislative Yuan, the likelihood that this slate of nominees will be confirmed appears low, unless the government reaches an accommodation with KMT and/or TPP that packages confirmation of these nominees with other priorities that legislators have; each party recently announced their legislative priorities for the new session of the Legislative Yuan that began on 2 September 2024.
Recent polls on public views towards the judiciary and political parties
On 13 September 2024, the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF, 財團法人台灣民意基金會) released a poll about Ko’s arrest. A plurality of 40.3% said the case was handled fairly by the courts, 26.4% said it was not handled fairly, 21.4% said they did not know, and 12% said it’s hard to say. A majority, 54.6%, disagreed that Ko’s case is political persecution, while 28.6% agreed that it is, 9.6% had no opinion, and 7.1% did not know. For a question about confidence in the judiciary, 49.9% did not have confidence, 44.2% had confidence, 4.0% had no opinion, and 2.0% did not know.
On 16 September 2024, the TPOF released a poll about political party support. The DPP had 35.5%, KMT had 23.2%, do not support a party had 21.3%, the TPP had 12.0%, the New Power Party had 5.1%, other parties had 1.8%, and don’t know had 1.1%. For the TPP, amid the investigations into Ko, there was a 1.8% fall from its support in the TPOF’s August poll.
The TPOF periodically publishes English summaries of its polls; sign up via an email request.
Analysis: Measured against the 26.46% of the vote Ko received in the January 2024 presidential election, or the 22.07% of the party list vote the TPP received in the simultaneous Legislative Yuan election, it’s no surprise that the TPP has lost some support given the severity of the corruption allegations against Ko.
President Lai visits military facilities
President Lai recently had an active schedule of interactions with Taiwan’s military. On 23 August 2024 Lai visited Kinmen to mark the 66th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment (also known as the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis), on 29 August 2024 Lai oversaw a promotion ceremony for military officers, on 30 August 2024 Lai addressed the “Armed Forces Day and All-Out Defense Education Day", on 2 September 2024 (Armed Forces Day) Lai paid tribute to fallen military personnel and presided over the 2024 Fall Martyrs’ Commemoration Ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, on 6 September 2024 Lai inspected troops on Penghu (a visit also covered by the international media), on 11 September 2024 Lai visited the air force pilot who was rescued after ejecting from his Mirage fighter jet before it crashed, and on 13 September 2024 Lai attended a ceremony for new cadets training to be non-commissioned military officers in the Navy, Air Force and Army.
Separately, Vice President Hsiao Bikhim on 2 September 2024 attended the launch event for the “Taiwan Parliamentary All-Out Defense Committee”.
Analysis: Lai’s pace of visits to military facilities also satisfies United States pressure for improvements in Taiwan’s military preparedness, which from a US perspective involves more than simply increasing the defence budget. Coinciding with Lai’s frequent visits to military facilities, at an event on September 14, newly arrived American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene praised President Lai for forming of the Whole of Society Defense and Resilience Committee.
Europe relations in focus
On 27 August 2024, state-controlled telecommunications operator Chunghwa Telecom held a launch event for its new subsidiary in Frankfurt, which is likely related to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s future fab in Dresden which broke ground on 20 August 2024. At the end of August, government officials visited Czechia and pledged to create a “Germany-Czechia-Poland silicon triangle” with Taiwan’s assistance. On 1 September 2024, new European Union representative to Taiwan Lutz Guellner took office. In a social media post by the European Economic and Trade Office, Guellner was quoted as saying "We want to further strengthen our friendly relations and close cooperation with Taiwan". On 1 September 2024, Taiwan’s new de-facto ambassador to France Hao Pei-chih (郝培芝) took office. On 4 September 2024, Taiwan’s government-controlled Central News Agency signed a cooperation agreement with Lithuanian news agency ELTA to share news stories and other media resources.
In a joint statement issued on 12 September 2024 by the United States and Lithuania after a meeting between Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, “Both parties welcomed Lithuania’s efforts to strengthen its robust economic partnership with Taiwan and support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international fora.” Also on 12 September 2024, the Netherlands House of Representatives passed a resolution stating that United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2758 did not rule that the People’s Republic of China enjoyed sovereignty over Taiwan and that it did not make any judgment on Taiwan’s participation in the UN or other international organizations; Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a thank you statement the next day. On 13 September 2024, a German naval frigate and a supply ship each transited the Taiwan Strait.
Analysis: Another active month for Taiwan related news coming from Europe, which also includes travel to Europe by Taiwan officials (see below). The resolution passed by the Netherlands House of Representatives is based on a model resolution passed at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC, 對華政策跨國議會聯盟) meeting in Taipei on 29 July 2024 and 30 July 2024 (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2024).
Preparations for 2026 local elections
Although over two years away, manoeuvring for Taiwan’s 2026 local elections has already commenced. Recently Song Tzi-chiang (宋自強) joined the Taipei City Government Deputy Mayor’s office as an aide; media reported that Song is an experienced election aide and his role is to help the potential New Taipei City mayoral campaign of current Taipei City Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) and to ensure that New Taipei City again elects a KMT mayor as it has in each election starting from the final election of the Taipei County magistrate in 2005 and the New Taipei City mayoral elections in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
In Kaohsiung City, the results of a recent poll by television news station TVBS shows that Legislator Ko Chih-en (KMT – Legislator-at-Large) polls higher than a list of potential DPP opponents by a range of 5% to 21%.
Analysis: Recent history indicates the opposition does well in local elections. In November 2014 the DPP did well in the local election (which followed the KMT winning the presidency and a Legislative Yuan majority in January 2012), in November 2018 the KMT did well in the local election (which followed the DPP winning the presidency and a Legislative Yuan majority in January 2016), and in November 2022 the KMT did well again in the location election (which followed the DPP winning the presidency and a Legislative Yuan majority in January 2020). With this recent history of success in mind, it also means that the KMT chairman election in 2025 might see a challenger to incumbent chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), in so far as the chairman who oversees a successful local election in November 2026 will be well placed to win the party’s nomination for the January 2028 presidential election.
Travel by Taiwan politicians
During the week of 19 August 2024, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) visited the Washington DC area for bilateral talks that are known as the “special channel”. In the final week of August, a delegation led by Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) visited Czechia. At the end of August and beginning of September, KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) and Secretary General Justin Huang (黃健庭) attended three different business and cultural exchange forums in China. On 30 August 2024, Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) attended an event in Tokyo at which he called for strengthened cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on semiconductors. Also on 30 August 2024, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) led a delegation to attend the annual GLOBSEC Forum in Prague. On 31 August 2024, DPP Secretary-General Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) began a visit to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, New York and Washington D.C. On 4 September 2024, Minister of Culture Li Yuan (also known by his pen name Hsiao Yeh, 小野) began a four day visit to Japan. Also on 4 September 2024, Taipei City Mayor Wayne Chiang Wan-an (KMT) began a visit to New York City, Boston and Philadelphia.
In the first week of September, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) attended a regional meeting of intelligence chiefs held in Paraguay, and National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) visited Washington D.C., New York City, and San Francisco.
Analysis: Although there is precedent for overseas travel by central government officials (including to the Washington DC area for the “special channel”), recent travel indicates that other than the president, vice-president, and premier, there is a willingness by the United States, Europe and Japan to express their support for Taiwan via allowing frequent, and public, visits by Taiwan government officials. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested a travel budget of NT$424 million for 2025, a 60% increase over 2024.
With regard to Mayor Chiang’s visit to the United States, municipal diplomacy is common among Taiwan’s special municipalities, cities, and counties, some of which have dozens of “sister” relationships with municipalities around the world. Although it is impossible to have substantive interactions with dozens of sister cities, it does provide a justification for overseas travel by Taiwan heads of municipal governments. Whether or not these expensive overseas trips (that usually include a delegation of numerous department heads) result in substantive improvements to municipal governance is a matter of debate.
Notable foreign visitors to Taiwan
Visitors to Taiwan over the past month include a bipartisan delegation from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a former Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force chief of staff Tomohisa Takei, former NATO assistant secretary general Giedrimas Jeglinskas, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist-in-exile Nathan Law (羅冠聰), Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Ohashi Mitsuo (大橋光夫), a delegation of parliamentarians from Sweden, Member of Estonia’s Parliament Kalle Laanet, a delegation from the Hoover Institution, Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg (who opened a state trade office), the Speaker of the Tuvalu Parliament Tuvalu Iakoba Taeia Italeli, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, a delegation former Canadian security and defence officials, and from Germany, Social Democratic Party Bundestag members Michael Müller and Andreas Larem.
Analysis: Notwithstanding the final weeks of the northern hemisphere summer, notable visitors still came to Taiwan. With the US presidential and congressional elections on 5 November 2024, it is unlikely that there will be members of congress or high level US officials visiting Taiwan in the coming weeks.
Ross Darrell Feingold (@RossFeingold) is a lawyer and political risk analyst in Taipei.
Disclosures:
1. Mr. Feingold is a senior adviser to the Asia Pacific Youth Association (亞太青年協會, APYA) a Taiwan non-government and non-partisan organisation that encourages youth in Taiwan to be more involved in public policy issues. The honorary chairmen of the APYA are Mark Ho (何志偉, DPP and current Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office), Charles Chen (陳以信, KMT and current Head of the KMT Overseas Department), and Andy Chiu (邱臣遠, TPP and current Acting Mayor of Hsinchu City); Ho, Chen and Chiu are all former members of the Legislative Yuan. The APYA periodically receives grants from the DPP, KMT and TPP to underwrite the cost of APYA events.
2. Mr. Feingold recently received an honorarium to appear on a YouTube program about geopolitical issues hosted by the TPP Foreign Affairs Department.
3. Mr. Feingold is special counsel to Titan Attorneys-at-Law, which represents the KMT Legislative Caucus in the litigation at the Constitutional Court over the expansion of Legislative Yuan powers, but he is not involved in the matter and the views herein are his own.
