Democracy and Dirty Money in Taiwan
You have to love what's happening in Taiwan. Yeah, I know the story is in Beijing with the Olympics and all that, but the former President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, has just been banned from leaving the island and the Swiss are investigating a bank account that contains $20 million.
Chen, the first opposition candidate to become president of Taiwan, came into office promising to clean up what is known on that island as the culture of "hei qian" or dirty money. Hmmm.
On Sunday, prosecutors barred him from leaving the island pending an investigation into allegations of money laundering. On Saturday, prosecutors searched Chen Shui-bian's residence in Taipei and took away boxes of documents.
Last week, Chen admitted that he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, the AP reported. He later said his wife, Wu Shu-chen, had wired $20 million to Switzerland. Oh...the old, blame the wife defense.
Now this is the same guy who vowed time and again to protect Taiwan and never betray the island. This is the same guy who based his presidency on enraging China just enough to ensure his re-election. As president he also accused Taiwan's other party, the Kuomintang, of plotting to abandon Taiwan's interests and sell-out to Communist China. Chen has also resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party. (I initially got this wrong -- saying he'd resigned as the leader of the party. The party has a new leader; it's Tsai Ying-wen, who ran the island's Mainland Affairs Council and is due in the United States. I guess she's going to be explaining Taiwan's plight to interested American law- and policy-makers.)
The Taiwan story is remarkable, however, not just because it involves the fall of failed president but because it is happening at all. It underscores the fact that Taiwan's democracy, while still plagued by corruption, is trying to keep it house clean. As such it's good news for Taiwan and, who knows, perhaps good news for the many Chinese on mainland China who look to Taiwan and its political system with some hope and maybe a little admiration. Could this happen in China, too?
Posted by John Pomfret on August 18, 2008 5:33 PM
這是刊載於8月18日華盛頓郵報、由其前北京分社主任John Pomfret所撰寫的文章，依據我引用新聞文章的習慣，為避免文章因系統更新而移除，我都會附上原文（如上述）。
看這篇文章，真叫我感慨良多，除了有感於英文實在該好好加強之外，更對陳水扁的舉世知名感到不齒。以下寫的是個人的粗淺翻譯，參考就好，未經告知請不要引用，我說過是「粗淺」的翻譯，錯了是丟那些盜文者的臉。
台灣的民主與髒錢（Democracy and Dirty Money in Taiwan）
人們一定會喜歡發生在台灣的事。對，我知道現今世所矚目的焦點是北京奧運，前總統陳水扁遭到限制出境，且被查出在瑞士銀行的帳戶中存有兩千萬美金。陳水扁，台灣首位反對黨出身的總統候選人上台時，還承諾打擊「黑金（hei qian）文化」或稱髒錢（dirty money）呢。哼哼。
在星期天，檢察官開始對他洗錢的指控進行調查，並將其限制出境。而在星期六，檢察官更搜索了陳水扁位於台北的住所，還帶走了好幾箱的文件。上星期時，陳水扁承認他不實申報競選經費，稍後在美聯社（AP）的報導裡，他提到他的妻子吳淑珍將兩千萬美金匯到了瑞士……喔，用把責任全推給老婆的老招，來替自己辯護。
和誓言保衛且從未背叛台灣的人一樣，在他任期內，他藉著激怒中國來確保他的連任。身為元首，他指責台灣其他的政黨──國民黨（Kuomintang）密謀進行把台灣賣給中共的行為。陳水扁已經退出民進黨。（我一開始誤解了，說他辭去了黨主席的職位。目前黨內有一位在美處理陸委會（Mainland Affairs Council）事宜的新任主席蔡英文（Tsai Ying-wen），我猜她對感興趣的美國法律及決策者傳達了台灣的窘境）
台灣的這個事件是值得關注的，並非只因為它涉及總統。它強調當台灣的民主為貪腐所染時仍努力自清。這對台灣而言是件好事，如同人們所知，這對中國大陸的人民不啻是個好消息，他們對台灣和其政治體系抱持希望，或許還有一點羨慕。中國能夠如此嗎？