TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Legislative candidates running for the Daan legislative seat in Taipei clashed over Taiwan’s use of the death penalty on Wednesday (Jan. 3), as candidate Wang Hsin-i (王欣儀) called on her opponent Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) to clarify her stance on the issue.
The Kuomintang’s (KMT) Wang published a statement describing the murder of her then 19-year-old sister by a male classmate, and criticized Miao’s past support for abolition of capital punishment. She said that by taking this stance, Miao has shown she does not understand what it is like for victims’ families to “live in hell on earth.”
Wang’s sister was murdered in 1987. The man convicted of her murder was sentenced to death in 1989, and the sentence has since been carried out.
The Social Democratic Party’s Miao has previously worked as the head of a group campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan. “Now that Miao Po-ya is running for election as a legislator, I would like to ask, do you still insist on the abolition of the death penalty?” Wang’s statement read.
Miao responded to the statement expressing sorrow for Wang’s suffering, and said she thinks her support for the death penalty is reasonable, per CNA. Miao advocated for “rational thinking” on the issue, likening it to the debate over nuclear power in Taiwan, and said different views should be respected.
Meanwhile, three other KMT legislators held a press conference on Wednesday to join Wang’s call for Miao to clarify her stance on the death penalty. Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) was among them, and was labeled by Miao as a hypocrite who was attempting to politicize the issue.
Miao pointed out Lo’s past role as a high-level staffer in former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office. She said the abolition of the death penalty had become a long-term national policy direction under Ma’s administration, and that Lo did not oppose this.
During Ma's presidency the abolition of the death penalty was made a long-term policy goal by the Ministry of Justice. Ma, however, remained a supporter of the “cautious use” of the death penalty during his presidency.
Taiwan’s presidential candidates debated the death penalty on Saturday. During the debate, only KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) said he was opposed to abolition.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said a high degree of public support would be needed to abolish it, and said he understood people’s desire to maintain the death penalty. Taiwan People’s Party candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said support for the penalty was culturally ingrained in Taiwan, and life imprisonment without parole could be a substitute for the sentence.
