User:CaroWesley/sandbox

Article Evaluation

See: Black gold (politics)

The article that I evaluated outlines the political context for the term 黑金 "Black Gold", which equates to the obtaining of money (the "gold") by using corrupt means (the "black"). The article is only two paragraphs long and contains no sub-sections.

This article falls within the scope of two WikiProjects: WikiProject Taiwan and WikiProject Organized Crime. The former project has rated the quality of the article as "Stub-Class", and the latter has yet to assign it a rating. Neither projects have assigned ratings of the article's place on the project's importance scale. The article was last edited in May of 2017, and edits to the article have been minimal, with editors simply removing more biased statements.

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

On the first read-through of the two-paragraph article, I identified six grammar, diction, and punctuation mistakes, which was a considerable distraction from the information presented. However, everything in the article appears to be relevant to the article topic. Furthermore, the use of blanket statements and the lack of references posed the largest distraction, as there is no external information linked within the article to substantiate their claims.

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

This article appears to show very strong bias in favour of the modern incarnation of the KMT party, which, having lived in Taiwan, I have found to be typical amongst a large section of the older Taiwanese population. Specifically, I take issue with the article's claim that former President Ma Ying-jeou was removed from office due to being too effective at fighting black gold; he lost the 2016 Presidential Election to DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen. Generally, the political claims made in this article appear to be shallow and not to encompass the true reality of the situation.

Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

In line with my above assertion that the article presents pro-KMT bias, it appears that there is an overrepresentation of DPP criticism and a lack of (modern) criticism of the KMT's role in the underground network of crime and "black gold." I think that this could be remedied by breaking the article into sections that delineate between Taiwanese political parties as well as other actors known to have associations with "black gold" in Taiwan.

Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?

There are no citations in the article. As such, there are a number of unsubstantiated claims throughout the article, despite its brevity. However, the article links to various Wikipedia pages of the actors and events explored therein, which is somewhat useful.

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

As I stated above, there are no references in this article. It is unknown where this information came from, and as such I believe it is a perfect example of a hearsay-informed article. There is no bias noted.

Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

Yes, the information is out of date. The most recent event that the article cites is the 2005 "Three-in-One" election, and as such, it lacks nearly 15 years of Taiwanese political history (and the scandals that have occurred therein). As such, this article could be drastically improved by including modern political history.

Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?

There are next to no conversations taking place on the article, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article review. Since the creation of the article in 2005, only a few of the obviously biased and unsubstantiated sentences have been removed. Editors have asked within the article itself for specific dates on corruption scandals, such as the scandal that saw Taiwanese Chen Shui-bian's (DPP) family indicted on corruption, which took place in 2006. The fact that this has yet to be cited indicates how outdated the article is.

How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Wikipedia places the topic at discussion within a much wider historical and political context, allowing the reader to follow other Wikipedia links at will and to expand their knowledge of the corruption-related topic in a more wholistic way. In class, we often aim to situate our analysis and understanding within a larger theoretical framework that includes peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative analysis. However, I do value the Wikipedia approach to explaining a topic such as this, as I believe that understanding political history is one of the best ways to understand the current political situation in a country, especially when it is complicated further with the nuanced topic of corruption.

Final Article Project Proposal

First suggested article: Black Gold

See: Black gold (politics)

I think that completing an overhaul of this article would be very useful to add impartial contextual reporting to the topic. There currently is no article on "Corruption in Taiwan" on Wikipedia, and this article appears to be the closest approximation of a summary on the topic. As I have previously identified, there is a significant amount of pro-KMT bias within the article, and I think that dividing the article by Taiwan's political parties would allow the article to have clear and cohesive reporting on the topic rather than the anti-DPP focus that the article currently presents.

Also, beginning the article with a section that outlines the historical context from the KMT-era onwards and the emergence of the Black Gold term would be useful.

Second suggested article: Vote Buying in Latin America and the Caribbean

This proposed new article would outline vote buying practices and processes across Latin America and the Caribbean. As we have discussed in the seminar, there are a number of creative approaches to vote buying that culminates differently across the region in accordance to nation-level anti-corruption policy and socioeconomic differences of the population. I think this article could be divided in two different ways: either by country or by vote-buying practice. Ideally, the latter division style would help to ensure that not any specific country nor their politicians are focused upon, avoiding partiality or a focus on controversy.

Third suggested article: Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act

See: Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act

I think it would be equally interesting to investigate a Canadian policy implemented to fight corruption; it would be worthwhile to add a longer historical context section to this article to illustrate the political debate that preceded the adoption of this Act into Canadian law. Furthermore, initial research indicates that this policy has received a large amount of criticism, and it is for this reason that I think that the criticism section should be expanded to include more detail on specific criticisms up to the modern day.

Final Article: Black Gold (politics)

For other uses of the term, see Black gold.

Black gold (Chinese: 黑金; pinyin: hēi jīn) is a term used in the Republic of China (Taiwan) to refer to political corruption. The term refers to the obtaining of money (the "gold") through a dark, secretive, and corrupt method ("black", an adjective in Mandarin Chinese that also means illegal or illicit). The term is usually reserved to refer to politicians and government officials on the national level; however, local-level government and companies may also participate as accomplices in the creation of black gold. In their 2017 report, Freedom House reported that "corruption is significantly less pervasive than in the past, but it remains a problem. Politics and big business are closely intertwined, leading to malfeasance in government procurement." Since the end of the martial law period in 1987, politicians representing both of Taiwan's largest political parties, the KMT and the DPP, have been accused and charged with crimes relating to corruption.

Corruption Allegations by Political Institution

The Kuomintang (KMT)

See: Kuomintang

Mainland Rule [1912 - 1949]

The Kuomintang (KMT) has frequently been criticized in Taiwan for its connections to gangsters and black gold. This nationalist party has long maintained associations with underground societies, and its founder Sun Yat-sen joined the Triads in the early 20th century to gain support for the Republican Revolution. In its early years, the KMT relied on support from organized crime, gangs, and unions and clan organizations with criminal ties in its efforts to consolidate power in war-torn post-imperial China.

According to governance and transnational crime expert at the Hong Kong Institute of Education Lo Shiu Hing, the party's relationship with crime networks was first seen in mainland China during the era preceding the KMT's retreat to Taiwan. Then-KMT Chairman Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek(蔣中正) held ties with the Green Gang, a Chinese secret society and criminal organization based in Shanghai. Chiang was aided by notorious Green Gang leader Du Yuesheng (AKA 'Big-eared Du') and other members in carrying out a violent massacre of suspected communists in the Shanghai massacre. Chiang subsequently appointed Du as the head of the national board of the Opium Suppression Bureau, bequeathing control of Chinese opium flows to Du and his criminal accomplices.

Taiwan [1949 - present]

After Mao Zedong's troops drove the nationalists across the Taiwan Strait, the KMT continued to enact authoritarian policies amongst their new Taiwanese populace, often employing mobsters to maintain their rule amongst constituencies with high populations of frustrated locals. By combining party and state coffers and maintaining tight control over the financial sector, the KMT built a monopolistic real estate and business empire, making it the richest political party in the world. Following Taiwan's transition from one-party rule to a more open political process, however, the KMT began to use their gang connections to mobilize voters to support their candidates. They also harnessed the power of their local faction network to trade money for support via local-level elections.

In light their history involving a number of scandals in black gold, on August 19, 2005 the KMT passed the "KMT black-gold exclusion clause" ((排黑條款) as an addition to their party charter. The clause specifies that as a deterring measure for KMT party members to engage in corruption, any individual convicted of black gold-related activities "shall forfeit the right to take part in the party primary." Presidential hopeful Ma was successful in having the black-gold exclusion clause be repealed, as such a clause could impact his election if he were to be found guilty of previous corruption allegations.

In the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election, former mayor of Taipei Ma Ying-jeou announced his candidacy on the same night in which he was indicted for siphoning public dollars from his mayoral allowance. Estimates put Ma's siphoning of black gold to about US $300,000 during his tenure 1998-2006 tenure as Taipei mayor. He was elected President in 2008.

During his time in Presidential office between 2008 and 2016, KMT leader and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was protected by political immunity. When he stepped down as leaders in May of 2016, he was hit with a deluge of corruption allegations, such as the leaking of secrets on the subject of a confidential judicial probe into Jiang Yi-huah and his aide.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

See: Democratic Progressive Party

While the the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained considerable support in the 1990s through its reform agenda, it has also faced multiple allegations of corruption. Unlike the asset-rich KMT, the DPP has maintained much smaller coffers, resulting in a their use different strategy for maintaining local faction clientelism. The DPP's most popular leaders have been known to strategically visit local politicians in their home districts as a means to boost that politician's image, and it has also been reported that a number of DPP officials have become involved in corrupt activities as well.

The DPP first highlighted the issue of political corruption in their run-up campaign to the 1992 Legislative Yuan elections, wherein they aimed to discredit the KMT with on allegations of vote buying, involvement in land speculation, and their nomination of corrupt politicians. In the 2000 Taiwanese Presidential Election former Taipei mayor and then-DPP frontrunner candidate Chen Shui-bian was elected on a platform that primarily focused on eliminating black gold from Taiwan's political landscape.

Chen attempted to clamp down on black gold throughout his presidential tenure; however, he was criticized, including by former colleagues and supporters, for exploiting their control of government for personal wealth in, ironically, a typical black-gold manner. Former DPP party leader Hsu Hsin-liang has criticized Chen in a public speech for betraying the ideals of the DPP after coming to power. After a series of high-profile corruption scandals, public support for the DPP diminished in the 2005 "Three-in-One" election. Campaigning on a "save Taiwan from corruption" platform, the KMT-led pan-blue coalition won 16 of 23 county and town offices and became the majority party at the local level.

Allegations of political corruption began to be placed upon Chen in May 2006, when his son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) was arrested for insider trading on Taiwan Development Corporation stocks. He was sentenced to six years in prison for insider trading on December 28, 2006. The first lady Wu Shu-chen also stood trial on charges of misusing state funds in 2006; President Chen was implicated in the case, but remained immune from prosecution until the end of his term.

In 2009 Chen Shui-bian was sentenced to a 20 years in prison after a Taiwanese court found him guilty of corruption, but was freed on medical parole in 2015.

Anti-Corruption Law in Taiwan

Anti-corruption legislation was first introduced by President Chiang Kai-shek on July 15th, 1963, in the form of a 20-article text titled the "Anti-Corruption Statute for the Period of Communist Insurgency". Since then, the text has been revised and promulgated through the means of a Presidential Decree by a variety of Taiwan's presidents, most notably when the legislative document's name was changed to the "Anti-Corruption Act".

Following a highly effective anti-vote buying campaign led by the DPP in the 1990s, the Taiwanese Ministry of Justice launched its largest-ever crackdown on vote buying. The Ministry completed investigations in 22 of Taiwan's 23 counties and cities, resulting in the indictment of over 332 councillors on charges of vote buying, with 82% of such cases resulting in a conviction.

On April 1st, 2011, the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan passed the Ministry of Justice Anti-Corruption Administration Organic Act. This nine-article Act established a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) agency responsible for the formulation, promotion, and coordination of Taiwan's anti-corruption policies called the Agency Against Corruption (AAG or 廉政署組織條例). This agency is also tasked with investigating and prosecuting corruption cases, and the supervision of the ethics divisions of government agencies. In their statistical analysis that investigated the relationship between KMT and DPP vote buying and electoral success, however, Jang and Chang found a that vote buying decreases the probability of electoral success.

External links

• Asiaweek: The Curse of Black Gold
• Professor Jerome A. Cohen calls for Taiwan’s legal scholars to speak out on law reforms