Examiner: Ex-president Chen Shui-bian offers to testify to U.S. Supreme Court on Taiwan passport case 前總統陳水扁願意就台灣護照案到美國最高法院作證

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http://www.examiner.com/x-1969-Boston-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m8d...

August 12, 3:10 PM
Boston Progressive Examiner
Michael Richardson

Former president of the Republic of China in-exile, Chen Shui-bian has offered to testify to the United States Supreme Court in the pending Taiwan passport case, Roger C.S. Lin, et al vs. United States.

The offer of testimony from the man who was president of Taiwan's government from 2000 to 2008 would be valuable to the Supreme Court but he may not be heard. If the Supreme Court did allow Chen's testimony it would likely remand the case to a lower court for the evidentiary hearing reserving its own oral argument sessions for the lawyers.

Ex-ROC president Chen Shui-bian
AP photo

However, even if the Supreme Court accepts the case at its September 29th conference, as is tentatively scheduled, and orders Chen's testimony there is the little problem of his current imprisonment in Taiwan. Held in solitary confinement since December, the former leader is facing corruption charges in a controversial trial that has drawn sharp criticism and triggered protests in the streets.

Chen has signed an affidavit for the U.S. Supreme Court from his jail cell and could shed considerable light on the legal status of Taiwan. In April, the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals described Taiwan's plight as "political purgatory" because of its long-standing unresolved status which the court called a "strategic ambiguity" left over from the Cold War.

In October 1945, under Harry Truman's watch, the U.S. Navy landed Republic of China troops on Taiwan, then called Formosa, to process surrendering Japanese soldiers. The Chinese civil war ended up in 1949 with the defeated Chiang Kai-shek fleeing to Taiwan where the occupation Chinese government has been entrenched ever since.

Chen's jailhouse statements provide a glimpse of what his testimony to the Supreme Court might include. A few sentences are all that are needed to show what a political hot potato Chen has become as he moves to the international stage.

"During the period of my Presidency, and according to the TRA {Taiwan Relations Act of 1979], it was my understanding that the United States government only considered me as the head of the "Taiwan governing authorities" and did not recognize Taiwan or the ROC [Republic of China] as sovereign states. According to the SFPC of 1952 [San Francisco Peace Treaty] the United States is the principal occupying power of Taiwan, and to my knowledge there has been no change in this status to date."

" Based on this rationale, during my term in office, I accepted the instructions of the Chairmen of the American Institute in Taiwan on many occasions, even when their instructions interfered with my Presidential decision-making."

During the Cold War and fighting in Korea and Vietnam, the United States used the vast secret police network of the Chiangs to supplement its own huge spy contingent as Taiwan became the hub for America's secret warfare in all of Asia. At one point, the U.S. station of the Central Intelligence Agency included 10,000 operatives based in Taiwan.

The United States turned a deaf ear and blind eye to decades of martial law and ignored the infamous '228 Massacre' and White Terror period when many Taiwanese were executed or given long prison sentences for advocating Taiwanese independence.

Thus far, President Barack Obama has been silent about the 'Taiwan question' even to the point of having Solicitor General Elana Kagan waive her right to submit a brief in response to Roger Lin's petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.

Now that Chen Shui-bian's offer to tell top government secrets is on the table, the passport case suddenly takes on a new high profile that may have Kagan wishing she could reply. No decision by the Supreme Court on Chen's offer is expected until the beginning of the October court term.