https://www.scmp.com/rss/269420/feed Yu-Jie Chen is a Taiwan lawyer who for the current academic year 2016-2017 is a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She received her J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees from New York University School of Law. She also holds an LL.M. and LL.B. from National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Her research focuses on criminal justice and human rights developments in Taiwan and China. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On March 19, 2017, Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che vanished after entering mainland China. Ten days later, after repeated calls from Taiwan concerning Lee’s whereabouts, the Chinese government admitted that Lee had been detained on suspicion of “endangering national security”. Since then, three similar cases have been confirmed. Lee Meng-chu, a volunteer organiser in a small Taiwan township, disappeared in Shenzhen last August, allegedly after distributing photos of Chinese military... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3076793/beijing-must-come-clean-arbitrary-detention-taiwanese-or-risk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3076793/beijing-must-come-clean-arbitrary-detention-taiwanese-or-risk?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2020 17:00:12 +0000 Over three weeks have passed since the highly publicised, carefully rehearsed trial of Lee Ming-che, a Taiwanese NGO activist long ­detained in mainland China for his peaceful criticism of the Chinese regime. We are still awaiting the verdict that will not only determine Lee’s fate but also have broader implications for China-Taiwan relations. Obviously, in China, guilt is ­assumed in such political cases, and Lee’s punishment is not being ­decided by the court that tried him and his... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2113665/how-chinas-trial-lee-ming-che-warning-taiwanese-activists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2113665/how-chinas-trial-lee-ming-che-warning-taiwanese-activists?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Oct 2017 09:20:52 +0000 Over Taiwan’s protests, China has since April persuaded several countries that do not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan – including Kenya, Malaysia and Cambodia – to send Taiwanese nationals suspected of telecommunications fraud to China rather than Taiwan for prosecution. This is one of Beijing’s many recent tactics designed to press Taiwan’s new president, Tsai Ing-wen, to continue the policy of her predecessor by adopting the so-called “1992 consensus”, a term that in Beijing’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2023276/beijing-and-taipei-should-end-their-tug-war-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2023276/beijing-and-taipei-should-end-their-tug-war-over?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Sep 2016 10:12:24 +0000 Although the death penalty continues to be popular in Taiwan, the government's April 29 execution of two of its citizens, brothers Tu Ming-lang and Tu Ming-hsiung, for allegedly committing five murders in Guangdong in 2001 has understandably aroused public concern. Despite a decade of judicial rulings, many informed observers question whether the convictions were consistent with the island's impressive progress in bringing due process of law to its criminal justice system. The case also revealed... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1509864/taiwans-handling-murder-case-raises-question-cross-strait-co?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1509864/taiwans-handling-murder-case-raises-question-cross-strait-co?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 May 2014 19:08:30 +0000 For over four decades after the Allied victors in the second world war allowed Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese government to reclaim Taiwan from Japan, the generalissimo's Kuomintang maintained a ruthless Leninist-style dictatorship over the island. Yet KMT propaganda hoodwinked many outside the island to believe that it, unlike the Maoist regime that chased it from mainland China in 1949, was the defender of democracy, the rule of law and human rights for Chinese people. During the past generation,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1202004/taiwan-quietly-forging-ahead-human-rights-protection?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1202004/taiwan-quietly-forging-ahead-human-rights-protection?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Going to the Chinese mainland can be dangerous. First-time visitors are often surprised at their freedom, and seasoned travellers may feel comfortable, but foreigners do get detained by police for many reasons. When commercial dealings sour, businesspeople of Chinese descent, including those from Taiwan and Hong Kong, are especially at risk. To be sure, China has enacted laws to better protect the rights of criminal suspects. On January 1, a newly amended Criminal Procedure Law will go into... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1029515/taiwanese-mainland-remains-dangerous-place?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1029515/taiwanese-mainland-remains-dangerous-place?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Are criminal trials too important to be decided by professional judges alone? That question is increasingly being asked - and answered - in various northeast Asian jurisdictions. South Korea has used non-binding 'consultative' juries since 2008. The following year, Japan instituted 'mixed tribunals' composed of three judges and six laymen to decide both guilt and punishment. Even some courts in mainland China, which has long authorised one or two Soviet-style 'people's assessors' to join... https://www.scmp.com/article/977952/open-debate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/977952/open-debate?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Although the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement between mainland China and Taiwan continues to preoccupy popular attention, this past month the two sides have made impressive progress in carrying out their less-known Agreement on Joint Cross-Strait Crime-Fighting and Mutual Judicial Assistance. That agreement between their specially constructed 'semi-official' organisations concluded its second year on June 25. Shortly before this anniversary, police from both sides of the strait, with... https://www.scmp.com/article/972677/partners-crime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/972677/partners-crime?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000