Taiwan’s top China policy planner quits
TAIPEI: The head of a Taiwan government agency that handles the island’s relations with China resigned yesterday, shortly after prosecutors decided against indicting a former deputy he had accused of spying for China.
“There is no regret. If I had to do the same again, I would,” Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi told a news conference, adding that he has informed President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Mao Chi-kuo of his decision.
Mr Wang said he did not agree with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office’s ruling not to indict former deputy council minister Chang Hsien-yao and two others due to insufficient evidence.
Expressing regret and disappointment, Mr Wang said he believes Mr Chang “did disclose the negotiation bottom line to China” and “did leak classified information to the Chinese side through a Taiwanese businessman based in China”.
Mr Wang said it was “strange” prosecutors considered it legal for “someone working at a private company [to] handle classified information only civil servants are allowed to do”.
The incident has caused a political storm since the news broke in August last year.
Mr Chang was abruptly dismissed after then Premier Jiang Yi-huah approved his resignation, saying he was stepping down for “family reasons”.
Mr Chang also lost his position as vicechairman and secretary-general of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation. Mr Chang has denied the resignation, insisting that he was forced to quit.
The council has since admitted Mr Chang was fired from his position, but defended the action by saying it needed to “clear some doubts on the questions being raised about his work”.
After the council accused him of breaching national security, Mr Chang went on national TV and denied that he spied for Beijing or leaked classified information.
Mr Wang said yesterday he was informed by a China-based Taiwanese businessman early last year that Mr Chang had developed close ties with the Chinese. He then told Mr Chang he would transfer him to a different position in mid-August, a decision that was supported by the president and then premier.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office had promised to pursue the case in late August last year. Earlier the Justice Ministry’s Investigation Bureau had also approached the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office to have Mr Chang convicted on a treason-related charge, which was declined on grounds that treason involves an attempt to betray the government on behalf of a “foreign power” which mainland China is not, under Taiwan’s constitution.
China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949 when Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by the Communists under Mao Zedong and fled to the island.
The government in Taipei still claims mainland China as its territory and formally calls Taiwan the Republic of China.