TAIWAN ROCKED BY SEX SCANDALS!

Got your attention, didn’t I? When I had arrived on Taiwan in 1997 there was nary a chance to view news headlines like this, but in an age of aggressive advertising on the Internet by companies selling spy devices and a public that feeds on scandal, headlines similar to this one are becoming increasingly common. In fact, in recent years the democratic Republic of China (ROC) has had its fair share.

In December, 2001, Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) , a TV journalist elected Taipei city councilwoman who later served as director of Hsinchu City's Bureau of Cultural Affairs, was secretly recorded at her apartment having an affair with a married man. The tabloid magazine Scoop Weekly (獨家報導周刊) broke the story, along with free DVDs of the video, and the news quickly became a sensation throughout Asia (not to mention the insomnia it caused to teenage boys!). The steamy scandal, rife with deception, abuse of power and sex, was one of the first of its kind on the island as it set a precedent regarding freedom of the press versus a public official’s right to privacy. In an ironic twist, Taiwan Television Enterprise had asked Chu to resign several years earlier after the station received intense criticism about her use of a hidden camera to report on a local gay bar. (Chu has since relocated to Mainland China where she married and became a mother.)

Around this time, The Journalist (新新聞周刊) magazine published a story alleging an affair between President Chen Shui-bian and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), an advisor and interpreter for nearly two years (the Chinese Monica Lewinsky, perhaps?). The magazine, which claimed it had received a tip from Vice-President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮 Lu Shiu-lian), subsequently lost a libel suit from Lu and was ordered to print an apology on the front pages of four major Chinese-language newspapers.

Taiwanese continue to receive breaking scandals from newspapers and steamy tabloids such as Next Magazine (台灣壹週刊), a Hong Kong-based publication that arrived on Taiwan on May 31, 2001. However, the recent sweeping election of incoming Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou indicates that the public has grown weary of scandals, as one of Ma’s key election themes was “clean government.” Let’s hope that Ma’s administration is successful at revitalizing the economy and Taiwan can continue to prosper.