[轉載]新聞週刊（Newsweek）陳水扁被戲劇性收押的風暴

新聞周刊(Newsweek)：陳水扁被戲劇性收押的風暴
Fallout from Chen Shui-bian's dramatic arrest

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:51 PM
By Melinda Liu

【譯註】因版權關係，本譯文業經刪節 (譯:黃南瀛)

中國否認對台灣施壓逮捕陳前總統。他因被控在任期間，盜用公款、洗錢、收賄及偽造文書而遭逮捕。陳水扁長期反對與中國統一，指控其繼任者馬總統下令將他收押，以取悅中國領導階層。他還沒被審判，但可能被羈押最多四個月以便偵查，如新聞週刊Duncan Hewitt報導，此案凸顯台灣政治分歧逐漸加劇。

在馬總統與中國大陸簽署歷史性的直航協議後不久，迅速以貪污罪收押陳前總統，可視為馬總統與其國民黨在野8年後，尋求鞏固政權的另一勝利，但實際上，羈押陳前總統，或將突顯自馬總統於5月上任後台灣內部逐漸升高的政治緊張。

外界已無法期待在哈佛受教育、被視為相對溫和的馬總統，可為對兩岸統一意見分歧的社會帶來共識。10月底的民調顯示，其支持率已自60％下滑至23％。台灣民眾對陳前總統感到憤怒是無庸置疑的，因為他已承認違法未完全申報競選政治獻金，但最近幾個月來，其他7名與民進黨有關人士因貪污指控而遭收押，讓外界憂慮新政府領導下台灣司法的獨立性。

不僅傳統民進黨支持者提出類此警告，在陳水扁被羈押前的上個星期， 20位國際知名亞洲專家，包括賓州大學教授林蔚(Arthur Waldron)、澳洲蒙那許大學教授Bruce Jacobs、邁阿密大學教授金德芳（June Teufel Dreyer），及前遠東經濟評論台北特派員Julian Baum等人共同發表史無前例的公開信【譯注：請參閱http://blog.yam.com/modernhippie/article /18059774】表達嚴重關切台灣檢察官的行為。該公開信指出，「台灣一直有貪污事件，且兩個政治陣營皆有。」他們表示，近期收押事件帶來國民黨政府「藉司法制度報復前民進黨政府官員」的印象。指出檢察官在被指控者未被正式起訴情況之下就被收押禁見，「嚴重違反了人身保護令以及正當法律程序、公義與法治。」他們也指責檢察官很明顯地將相關不利消息透露給媒體，是「透過媒體辦案」；在八零年代後期與九零年早期成功轉型為民主的成就，將因這些行動而破壞。

主張台灣民主倒退回獨裁的論點，已在上週陳雲林訪台簽署歷史性協議時浮現，這些協議得到相當支持，實際上，部分內容早在陳水扁和民進黨執政時就已經談判過，但因陳總統不接受「一個中國」原則而破局。

但馬總統接待陳雲林的作法，似乎是有計畫的擾亂反對者。批評者指控馬總統為了對中國代表團「給面子」而讓步太多，如陳雲林在台期間，總統府未懸掛不為北京承認的官方國旗，由於馬總統的地位也不被北京承認，被陳雲林稱呼為馬先生；同樣引起爭議的是：拒絕批准民眾示威。

在台灣民主時期，類此駁回事件甚為罕見。當抗議者試圖示威時，他們遭警察毆打，導致逾100人受傷，並震驚許多人，認為台灣社會變得殘忍。台北的法國當代中國研究中心主任 Frank Muyard指出，「自李前總統在民主轉型期間完全掌權後，16年來台灣未見警察使用武力對付和平抗議者。」

民眾的忿怒爆發，導致發生示威者圍困陳雲林無法離開旅館的混亂場面，大專院校學生想以和平方式抗議政府的處置措施，也被警察驅散，促使500名大學生以公開信呼籲保護言論自由並調查警察的暴行。英文報紙台北時報在責備民進黨未事先就陳雲林訪台與政府協商之同時，更指責馬總統與國民黨「恢復使用戒嚴時期的戰術」。

其社論指出「在那四天部署7000名警察限制民眾的行動自由，是災難的起緣」，又稱馬英九「若不是誤判民眾的意見，反映他是毫無效率的國家決策者；就是他一點也不在乎其行動引發的政治分歧。」

批評者指責他把陳雲林訪台變成大事件，激化民眾對兩岸關係的疑慮。一位80歲的老國民黨黨員於週二在台北市中心自焚，突顯了這事件的爭議，他抗議拿國旗的民眾被警察粗暴對待，結果三級燒傷全身超過80%灼傷，被送到醫院治療。

這些事件讓這個長久分歧的社會因為馬英九造成的政治緊張而更動盪。「陳水扁是非常具爭議的人物」法國當代中國研究中心主任 Frank Muyard指出：「民眾希望馬英九會多點善意，認為他是溫和、有教養的好人，有助於凝聚台灣，以及做些促進和好的事，但他並不這麼做，現在許多人認為他與中國是一夥的，過於討好中國，他們不相信他能護衛台灣的主權。」

對誇大報導江陳會談是雙贏的中國政府而言，看到陳水扁被捕在某種程度上是感到滿意的，北京蔑視他在1970與80年代的台獨背景。流行的民族主義小報環球時報在週三的頭條報導「陳水扁被銬」，國營媒體好幾個月來一直詳細的對陳水扁家族進行各式各樣的指控(用來對照今年四月剛被判刑18年的前上海共黨書記陳良宇)。

另一方面，馬英九同意直航、一個中國原則、鬆綁台商不能對大陸投資超過40%的限制，顯然一直高度受到中國領導者歡迎。近期事件顯示，在兩岸實際關係較以往更為緊密之際，馬總統的作法也許會冒著引發更大的反中聲浪的風險。

【譯註】作者在字裡行間顯然認為台灣的民主已經是過去式，這實在是台灣的悲哀，經過昨天震驚世界的報導後，國際媒體逐漸從一連串的事件中嗅出馬英九政府正在製造台灣的動亂。


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Fallout from Chen Shui-Bian's Dramatic Arrest
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 11:51 PM
By Melinda Liu

China has denied that it put pressure on Taiwan to arrest former President Chen Shui-bian, who's been arrested, accused of embezzlement, money laundering, taking bribes, and forging documents while in office. Chen, a long time opponent of reunification with Beijing, accused his successor Ma Ying-jeou of ordering his detention to curry favour with mainland China’s leaders. He has yet to be charged, but may be held for up to four months while prosecutors prepare their case against him. As Newsweek’s Duncan Hewitt writes, the case highlights growing political rifts in Taiwan over relations with China:

The detention of Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges, coming so soon after new president Ma Ying-jeou signed accords authorizing historic direct shipping links with mainland China, could be seen as yet another victory for Mr Ma and his Kuomintang party (KMT), as they seek to consolidate power after eight years in opposition. But in practice, Mr Chen’s detention is likely to highlight political tensions which have growing in Taiwan since President Ma’s accession in May this year.

Hopes that Mr Ma, a Harvard-educated lawyer seen as relatively moderate, would bring consensus to a society long fragmented over attitudes towards reunification with the mainland, have been shattered. Polls have shown his popularity plunging from some 60% to around 23% in late October. There is undoubtedly much public anger in Taiwan towards Chen Shui-bian, who has admitted breaking the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations -- but the arrests of seven other figures associated with his Democratic Progressive Party, also in connection with corruption allegations, over the past few months, have led to fears being raised about the independence of Taiwan’s judiciary under the new leadership.

Such warnings have not just come from traditional DPP supporters. Last week, before Mr Chen’s arrest, twenty prominent international Asia specialists, including Professors Arthur Waldron of the University of Pennsylvania, Bruce Jacobs of Monash University and June Teufel Dreyer of the University of Miami, along with former Far Eastern Economic Review Taipei correspondent Julian Baum, issued an unprecedented open letter expressing “deep concern” at the behaviour of Taiwanese prosecutors. “It is obvious that there have been cases of corruption in Taiwan,” they wrote, “but these have occurred in both political camps.” The recent detentions, they said, had created an impression that the KMT authorities “are using the judicial system to get even with members of the former DPP government.” They accused prosecutors of “a basic violation of due process, justice and the rule of law,” by holding several detainees incommunicado without being charged, and of “trial by press” by leaking detrimental information to the media. They suggested that such actions were jeopardizing the achievements of Taiwan’s transition from one party rule (by the KMT) to democracy in the late 1980s and early 90s.

Allegations of a regression to past authoritarianism also surfaced last week, when China’s top negotiator, Chen Yunlin, visited Taiwan to sign the historic accords allowing direct air, postal and shipping links between Taiwan and the mainland. There is actually a fairly broad consensus of support in Taiwan for the opening of such links – indeed most of the details of the accords were negotiated when Chen Shui-bian and the DPP were still in power. But final agreement could not be reached back then because Mr Chen would not accept China’s demand that he must first accept Beijing’s “One China” concept (which basically means accepting that Taiwan is part of China and the two sides will one day be reunified, even if they differ on the exact means to achieve this.)

But President Ma’s approach to the visit of Chen Yunlin, the most senior mainland official to visit Taiwan for six decades, seemed calculated to upset his opponents. Critics accused him of bending over backwards to “give face” to the mainland delegation: the official flag of Taiwan, which Beijing does not recognise, was not flown at the presidential palace when Mr Chen visited; the President was addressed by the mainland delegation as plain Mr Ma, since Beijing does not recognise his presidential status. Equally controversially, would-be protesters were refused permission to stage demonstrations against Mr Chen’s visit.

Such refusals are rare in Taiwan’s democratic era – and when protesters did try to demonstrate anyway, they were met with police beatings that left over 100 people injured and shocked many who thought Taiwanese society had turned its back on such brutality. “People were very upset,” says Frank Muyard, Director of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China in Taipei. “For the police to use force against peaceful protesters is something which hasn’t been seen in Taiwan for perhaps 16 years, since before [former President] Lee Teng-hui took full power during the transition to democracy.”

Public anger spilled over, leading to chaotic scenes when Chen Yunlin was prevented from leaving his hotel for hours by furious demonstrators. Students and academics seeking to protest peacefully at the government’s handling of the affair were also dispersed by police, leading to an open letter by 500 academics calling for the right to free speech to be protected, and for a probe into police violence. The English-language Taipei Times newspaper, while criticising leaders of the opposition DPP for not discussing plans for Chen Yunlin’s visit with the government in advance, accused Ma and the KMT of ‘reverting to time-dishonored tactics reminiscent of the Martial Law era.”

“Deploying 7,000 police officers over a four-day period and restricting the public’s freedom of movement were a recipe for disaster,” it said in an editorial, adding that Mr Ma “either misjudged public opinion, showing how ineffective he is as the nation’s top decision-maker, or he didn’t care about the political ramifications of his actions — at least not in Taiwan.”

Critics accused him of grandstanding by turning Chen Yunlin’s visit into such a big event – when the accords could have been signed with much less fanfare and public fallout – and of alienating anyone with doubts about closer ties with the Chinese mainland. This was highlighted on Tuesday when an 80-year \-old man, claiming to be a long-standing KMT member, set himself on fire in central Taipei, in protest at what he said was excessive police brutality against marchers carrying Taiwan’s official flag during Mr Chen’s visit; he was taken to hospital with third degree burns over 80% of his body.

These events have left a society long used to fragmentation - where most academics, analysts and media organisations are on one side or the other of the political divide – still reeling at the increase in political tension under President Ma: “Chen Shui-bian was a very divisive figure,” says Frank Muyard of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China. “People hoped Ma would be more conciliatory – they saw him as a gentle, well-educated, nice person who would help Taiwan come together and do something for reconciliation. But he hasn’t done that. Now many people see him as partisan, too eager to please China – they don’t trust him to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.”

For the mainland government, which has reported the opening of cross-strait links with great fanfare as a ‘win-win’ situation for both sides, there’s a clear degree of satisfaction in seeing Chen Shui-bian under arrest. Beijing despised him for his background in Taiwan’s pro-independence movement of the 1970s and 80s. “Chen Shui-bian in handcuffs” was the banner headline in the popular nationalist tabloid newspaper the Global Times on Wednesday. And for months China’s state-run media has revelled in reporting every detail of the various allegations of corruption against Mr Chen, his wife and associates (in marked contrast to the minimal amount of detail it gave in the corruption case of another Chen, former Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai Chen Liangyu, who was jailed for eighteen years in April.)

Ma Ying-jeou’s popularity with China’s leaders, on the other hand, is clearly at an all-time high: as well as agreeing to direct links and the One China principle, he has also relaxed restrictions which prevented Taiwanese companies from investing more than 40% of their assets in the mainland, further boosting economic ties. Yet recent events suggest his actions may also risk provoking a deeper anti-mainland backlash, at the very moment when physical links between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have become closer than ever.
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文章出處：找尋美麗的小北海道in Taiwan
Newsweek原文出處