Families of detained Taiwanese ask for government support
Straits Exchange Foundation says arrests part of China's tactic to influence polls

Tsai Ting-I

On March 20, all of Tseng Ching-yuan's family members voted for the presidential candidate preferred by Beijing - Lien Chan - believing the move would help free her husband Sung Hsiao-lien from a Chinese jail.

Sung was arrested along with other six Taiwanese businessmen last December. A fortune teller predicted that he would be released from China shortly after the presidential election ended.

The fortune teller was wrong.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported last week that Sung was sentenced to four years in prison after he confessed that he provided information on "military conditions," including maps, and economic and political publications, to Taiwan's military spy agency. Aside from claiming that Sung received US$600 from Taiwanese intelligence, few details of his case were released.

Sung's wife Tseng has insisted on her husband's innocence, arguing he was implicated by his friend Tung Tai-ping, who was arrested in Guangzhou.

Political detainees?

News of the seven arrests was first published by Hong Kong's daily Ming Pao in December, which said that President Chen Shui-bian's comments concerning China's ballistic missiles in Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian led to the seven men's arrests.

The Chinese media then released personal data on those detained, including their birthday, addresses in Taiwan and China, Taiwan identification card numbers, and Chinese entry permit numbers.

Chinese authorities also took the unusual move of arranging for the suspects to meet the press - during which the men expressed bitter hatred for Chen Shui-bian and the DPP.

"I hate Chen Shui-bian," Wang Chang-yung said at the time.

Chang Yu-jen, who has been detained in Anhui province, told the media on January 16 that he hoped "Taiwan and China could unify as soon as possible."

Taiwan's administration dismissed the incident as a PRC tactic designed to influence the presidential election, and intelligence departments have reiterated that none of their personnel are out of contact.

Chan Chih-hung, secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation, said that the cases are definitely "election-related," and the seven are "lucky enough to keep their lives."

"It's lucky their cases were publicized. That protects them from being murdered or receiving death sentences. We have learned that numerous Taiwanese in China have just disappeared for no reason," Chan said.

As part of the efforts to save the arrested seven, the SEF organized a team of lawyers to provide legal assistance from Taipei - which includes helping them hire Chinese lawyers since Taiwanese lawyers are not allowed to practice in China.

Most of the seven arrested didn't hire Chinese lawyers suggested by Taiwanese attorneys, but hired those suggested by China's Taiwan affairs office instead, believing back-door connections would be helpful to their families.

Wang Chang-yung and Chang Keng-huan, however, were sentenced to 12 and 11 years respectively. Their Fujian based lawyer, Huang Hong-hua, declined to comment on the cases without the permission of the local authorities.

Chan said little can be done regarding these cases due to the Chinese legal system.

Government 'irresponsible'

Families of the seven arrested, however, have criticized Taiwan's reaction as being "irresponsible."

"The government has just ignored us," said Tseng, who had been hoping that the government could rescue her husband through back-door channels.

Wang's wife, who has paid a few hundred thousand Taiwan dollars to Huang, said that money was not an issue. She wanted the government to be more actively involved in the case.

Asking that her name not be used, Wang's wife said she has visited her husband in Fujian three times, saying "I really appreciate the assistance of the Fujian Taiwan Affairs Office. They are so helpful."

Aside from the wives of Wang and Sung, none of the other families are willing to talk to the media while waiting for the results of the other detainees' cases out of fear of China's reaction.

Chang Keng-ming, a member of the SEF's legal consulting team, hinted that the seven might have been involved in spying, and said the Chinese authorities would only arrest individuals when it had enough evidence.

Chan Chih-hung, secretary-general of the Strait Exchange Foundation disagreed, however, and said "there is definitely some evidence, but the problem is what the evidence is."

Strategic tactics needed

"It is very easy for China to convict anyone it wants to," he added.

With relations tense between China and Taiwan, there have been more than 40 Taiwanese accused of spying since 1998. Most of them are still under detention in China.

Mo Shao Ping, a Beijing criminal lawyer who has defended several human rights activists in China, including the Harvard educated Yang Jianli, acknowledged that evidence has never been the main foundation for a conviction of a sensitive political or national security related case, pointing out China's judicial system "doesn't exclude influence from the nation's security departments or the Communist Party."

After spending more than a decade in China, Beijing-based legal consultant Kevin Shen suggested that it is time for the government to establish a mechanism for rescuing Taiwanese in China, which includes listing Chinese lawyers that are willing and capable to defend them.

He said that back-door connections have never proven to be the best way to rescue detained suspects.

"Without an embassy (and political protections) in China, strategic tactics are needed to rescue Taiwanese from Chinese jails," he noted.

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Source: "Taiwan News".