Image of Taiwan Tarnished by Writer’s Slaying

For several years, Taiwan has presented itself to the world as Asia’s new economic wonder child, a Japan in the making.

Now, the slaying in California of dissident writer Henry Liu and the disclosure that Taiwan intelligence officials have been linked to the case have revived images of the Nationalist China of the old days, a world of intrigue and violence, of government officials cooperating with the underworld.

The Liu case is shaping up as the biggest political crisis in years for the government of President Chiang Ching-kuo, the biggest since late 1978 when the United States announced its decision to shift its diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China.

Investigations Continue

All the details and ramifications of the Liu case are not yet apparent. Investigations by U.S. and Taiwan authorities are continuing and there may be further revelations, including publication of evidence that the victim once worked with Taiwan’s intelligence bureau.

“It will have a very heavy impact,” said Fu Hu, a Yale University-trained professor of political science at National Taiwan University. “It may destroy the image of the government which has been established for many years. . . . I believe it’s more serious than Watergate.”

Observers here believe that among other things the Liu case will:

--Undermine public trust in the government and in the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which, under the martial law that has been in effect here for more than three decades, is still the only sizable political party allowed in Taiwan.

--Greatly lessen the possibility--considered increasingly likely in the months before the Liu slaying--that Chiang Hsiao-wu, the grandson of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the second son of President Chiang Ching-kuo, will be able to take over the full range of authority from his father. The case could force the president and other party leaders to take dramatic new action to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

--Weaken the position of older Kuomintang members who have close ties to the military and security apparatus, and strengthen the hand of younger, less conservative members.

--Increase the pressure on the Kuomintang to grant some new recognition or legal status to the political opposition. The opposition, which is known as Tangwai--Chinese for “outside the party”--has in recent months been talking with the Kuomintang about the possibility of forming some sort of political association to represent the opposition.

Liu, the author of a critical biography of President Chiang, was killed outside his home in Daly City, Calif., on Oct. 15. U.S. investigators have blamed the killing on three members of a Taiwan underworld gang known as the United Bamboo. Two of the three are in police custody here.

Intelligence Bureau Tie

Earlier this month, before a team of U.S. investigators arrived to question the alleged underworld figures, Taiwan authorities announced that officials of the intelligence bureau of the Defense Ministry had been linked to the case. Three intelligence officers, including the man who until recently headed the bureau, are now in military custody here.

Taiwan officials now maintain that whatever the head of the intelligence bureau and his subordinates may have done, they were acting on their own and not as agents of the Taiwan government. “The government is not involved in this (Liu) case,” one Taiwan official said in an interview.

The effort by Taiwan officials to portray the intelligence officials as individuals acting outside any governmental capacity is significant because of a 1982 U.S. law authorizing Congress to cut off arms to countries that engage in a “consistent pattern” of “intimidation and harassment” against people in the United States.

That law, an amendment to the Arms Export Control Act, was written by Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) after the death of Chen Wen-cheng, a Chinese-American professor, during a trip to Taiwan in 1981. Chen died after being questioned by government agents, and critics of the Kuomintang have charged that he was beaten to death by security personnel.

Solarz, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Asian and Pacific affairs, has announced that he will hold hearings on the Liu case. Taiwan officials will apparently argue that a cutoff in arms sales is not justified under the law because the intelligence officials involved in the Liu case were not the “government.”

Taiwan now receives approximately $800 million in arms a year from the United States.

A number of government officials and Kuomintang members have complained that Liu’s death is being exploited for propaganda purposes by the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China and its supporters.

Raymond S.H. Hoo, chairman of Taiwan’s Coordination Council for North American Affairs, said, “It (the Liu case) is being played up by the Communist and left-wing papers in the States, especially the Chinese newspapers.”

However, Antonio Chiang, editor of a group of Taiwan magazines and an opposition leader, said he does not believe these complaints are valid.

“In the past, they (Taiwan officials) always blamed the Communists or the Taiwan independence movement,” Chiang said. “Now, there is no one to blame but themselves.”

According to several observers here, the first and most significant effect of the Liu case will be to reduce Taiwan citizens’ confidence in the government and the ruling party.

Political Alienation

Yang Kuo-shu, a psychology professor at National Taiwan University, said, “If people are rational or sensible enough, they will have questions about this case. With Mr. Liu’s case, many people no longer trust the KMT (Kuomintang). It will produce some sort of temporary political alienation. I myself feel a little alienated.”

Yang, who recently served as an intermediary between the Kuomintang and the opposition, said he feels that “no one can be trusted and nothing is stable.”

“How can someone do such a thing so stupid and distasteful?” he went on. “How can the KMT allow such a thing?”

Local and foreign analysts agree that the Liu case has been particularly damaging for the prospects of President Chiang’s son, Chiang Hsiao-wu.

The younger Chiang is the head of the Broadcasting Corporation of China.

The case is politically damaging to the younger Chiang because many Taiwan residents believe he has been playing an influential behind-the-scenes role in the affairs of Taiwan’s National Security Council. Associates of the young man and government officials deny that he has played any such role.

Chiang Hsiao-wu declined to be interviewed for this article. “He said now is not the time,” an intermediary said.

The intermediary said that Chiang, 39, is personally acquainted with Vice Adm. Wang Hsi-ling, a former director of the military intelligence bureau who was taken into custody this month in connection with the Liu case. He said this is not significant, though, because many people in Taiwan know the admiral.

An article in the New York Times last December said the younger Chiang also had links to Chen Chi-li, the leader of the underworld United Bamboo and, according to the FBI, the central figure in the Liu killing. An associate of Chiang said that this is not true, that Chiang has never met Chen Chi-li.

There is no obvious political successor for President Chiang, who is 74 and not in good health. Last year, a Taiwan-born technocrat named Lee Teng-hui was named vice president, and Yu Kuo-hua, a former banker, was named premier. Observers say Lee has failed to build any political power base and that Yu has been so unpopular that, according to rumor, he may soon resign.

Taiwan sources say that in the past year the president’s son has gradually been maneuvering toward a position of power.

“We heard that he was making his move,” one political analyst said. “It appeared he was moving towards the premiership.”

No matter what happens in the top leadership, many analysts agree that the fallout from the Liu case will help the younger technocrats and economists in the Kuomintang and lessen the influence of military and security officials.

Pressure to Liberalize

“I believe the liberal wing within the KMT will have some benefit,” Hu, the political science professor, said. “It is no good for the right wing of the party.”

Whether the Liu case will increase public support of the opposition is not yet clear. In past elections, the Kuomintang has received about 70% of the vote, and opposition or independent politicians about 30%. The next election is not until December.

Some analysts said they believe that the Liu case has already increased the pressure on Taiwan’s leadership to open the door for a more democratic political system and for legal recognition of other political parties.

“Now there is heavy pressure on the KMT to do something in response (to the Liu case), to show that we are an open, democratic society,” Antonio Chiang, the editor and opposition leader, said.

Recently a group of scholars, among them professors Hu and Yang, served as go-between in negotiations involving Kuomintang officials and opposition leaders. In the negotiations, the Kuomintang offered for the first time to grant a form of legal recognition to the opposition. It suggested a deal in which the opposition would be allowed to form some sort of association or committee.

The opposition leaders rejected the offer, which would not have given them the same legal rights the Kuomintang has. They would not have been permitted to form an official political party, would have been required to get approval from the government for some of their meetings and would have been barred from using the Tangwai label.

Yet the scholars who took part in the negotiation consider it to be of great importance that for the first time in 35 years the Kuomintang is apparently willing to grant some form of official status to the opposition.

According to Yang, the negotiations were opened in December, just as investigation into the Liu case was gathering steam.

“I think this offer was because of the Henry Liu case,” Yang said. “I just don’t think they want to increase their political difficulties right now.”