UNCAC & A Megatrend of Anti-Corruption

UNCAC & A Megatrend of Anti-Corruption

Written by Li-Chang Kuo
UNCAC is targeting ‘Anti-Corruption’; nowadays, it has become a spindle of the Debate of Taiwan’s Presidential Election. How to open the way for next generation? The answer is ‘Eliminate Taiwan’s Corruption’ and renewal Taiwan to increase the strength for new era, and thereafter, peace and prosperity will come again.

UNCAC, the UN Convention Against Corruption is the most comprehensive anti-corruption convention, entry into force on 14 December 2005; UN’s Global Compact determined to eliminate corruption for the purpose in order to build sustainable, inclusive and transparent societies. In October 2015, TPP has set the rule and in Chapter 26 as a special chapter for Anti-Corruption, expecting to implement the government's transparency and good governance. The APEC 2015 CEO Summit of November held in Manila, Philippines, the Leaders recognized that corruption impedes economic sustainability and development, in order to building inclusive Economies, they agreed to combat the harmful effects of the illegal economy and to promote cultures of integrity across borders, markets, and supply chains, and reaffirmed their commitment to open and accountable governance and to promoting international cooperation in the areas of repatriation or extradition of corrupt officials, asset recovery, criminalization, and prevention of corruption among APEC member-economies, this is in line with the provisions of UNCAC from ‘Prevention, Criminalization, International Cooperation’ to ‘Asset Recovery’. APEC Leaders declared supporting the APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies in advancing pragmatic anti-corruption cooperation and welcome the Cebu Manifesto for the Protection of Anti-Corruption Officials. From UN to the regional agreement and declaration, we’re told that ‘Anti-Corruption’ has become a megatrend in the world.

In accordance with article 68 (1) of resolution 58/4, the UNCAC entered into force in December 2005, a Conference of the States Parties is established to review implementation and facilitate activities required by the Convention. UNCAC covers a wide-range of corruption offences, including domestic and foreign bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering. The UNCAC provisions obligate State Parties to take a number of public and private anti-corruption measures of ‘‘Prevention, Criminalization, International Cooperation and Asset Recovery’. The UNCAC constantly updated and reinforcement and established the ‘Review Mechanism’ since the signing of it for implementation of its purposes.

Viewing the APEC 2015 for building sustainable and resilient communities and disaster-resilient economies, and building on Leaders’ commitments in previous years, they will take actions to combat wildlife trafficking and related corruption through further reducing illegal supply, transit, and demand; strengthening domestic and global enforcement, enhancing legislative frameworks, and other criminal justice tools, enhancing efforts in each of our economies to treat wildlife trafficking crime seriously; and increasing cross-border law enforcement cooperation, and other interaction among wildlife enforcement networks as appropriate. These APEC’s objectives are same as the affairs of the UNCAC.

In regarding to the Chapter 26 of TPP Agreement to Anti-Corruption, 12 Parties agreed to ensure certain due process rights for TPP stakeholders in connection with administrative proceedings, including prompt review through impartial judicial or administrative tribunals or procedures. They also agreed to adopt or maintain laws criminalising offering to, or solicitation of, undue advantages by a public official, as well as other acts of corruption affecting international trade or investment. And Parties also committed to effectively enforce their anticorruption laws and regulations. As to the public officials, they agreed to endeavor to adopt or maintain codes or standards of conduct for their public officials, as well as measures to identify and manage conflicts of interest, to increase training of public officials, to take steps to discourage gifts, to facilitate reporting of acts of corruption, and to provide for disciplinary or other measures for public officials engaging in acts of corruption. Look back to APEC 1997, we proposed that ‘Code of Ethic’ as one of Teaching Materials to the ‘APEC Sub-Institute of SME Consellors Training & Certification’, it’s in line with the recent TPP’s rule to the public officials, because the collusion between public sector and private sector is the most serious acts of corruption which must be thoroughly eliminated from the information society of 21st century.

In fact, we had submitted at APEC 2003 about a view to the ‘corruption’ that “Corruption is a major obstacle to social and economic development.” And the response was “By working in 2004 at APEC of Chile to develop specific domestic actions to combat corruption and promote transparency by implementing our general and area-specific transparency standards through our Transparency by 2005 Strategy.” In spite of emphasizing by the Leaders’ Declaration; unfortunately, no legal constraint in APEC, the best practice ‘Global Channel-TES’ we proposed at APEC 2003 that suffered a serious non-economic factors interfere in Taiwan, and could not attain the mission goal. When the leaders who concerned the said best practice at APEC 2006 CEO Summit, they heard that inventor and speaker Linda Din was attacked to dementia, aphasia and amnesia by the public-private evildoers of Taiwan, they decided to enhance the theme of ‘Anti-Corruption’, and they identified corruption as one of the greatest obstacles to economic and social development, and agreed to fight corruption and usher in a community of integrity by effectively implementing APEC Anti-corruption and Transparency (ACT) Task Force's initiatives through enforcement of anti-bribery law, prosecution, law enforcement, and denial of safe haven. Moreover, they endorsed the APEC 2006 Key Deliverables on Prosecuting Corruption, Strengthening Governance and Promoting Market Integrity, and encouraged APEC economies to strengthen APEC's work and to complete a progress report on the implementation of ACT commitments by 2007. In addition, they instructed Senior Officials to work with ABAC and other business leaders to strengthen corporate governance to assure greater economic opportunities and prosperity.

Even so, the evil Moab-king who came to ask me for his strong cooperation willingness since 2000, he invited me at Hotel Melia of APEC 2006 in Hanoi, Vietnam to talk about continuing the previous matter of cooperation, I answered: “Just follow that year we’re talking about paying the Licensing fees of Patent TW#212870 for the TRD (Contactless Transaction Reading Device)…” However, those evildoers were not only paying any penny, but also laying the snares to unfold the ‘Action of Destroying the Nest’; they also mounted the TRD everywhere in Taiwan in April 2007 and neglected the Anti-Corruption Declaration of APEC.

The next year, ‘Lima Anti-Corruption Declaration’ of APEC in Peru clearly pointed out that “Combating Corruption in the Region, because corruption in both the public and private sectors is a serious threat to social and economic development in the region. Leaders recognized that when criminal entities collude with corrupt public and private sector officials, it results in a culture of impunity and financial exploitation of the legitimate economy. Consequently, they agreed to leverage their collective will to combat corruption and related transnational illicit networks by promoting clean government, supporting public-private partnerships, fostering market integrity and transparent financial systems. And they recognized that the criminalization of corruption can facilitate greater regional cooperation. In support of our earlier APEC anti-corruption commitments, they commended efforts undertaken by member economies to develop comprehensive anti-corruption strategies. These include efforts to restore the public trust and protect against the abuse of our financial system through financial intelligence and law enforcement cooperation related to corrupt payments and illicit financial flows. These anti-corruption activities through APEC are consistent with the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which they encouraged economies to ratify and implement, where applicable. And also supported the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, where appropriate. They welcomed the Lima Anti-Corruption Declaration on Financial Market Integrity through Effective Public-Private Partnerships and the APEC Guidelines for Public-Private Action against Corruption.

We’re grounded in a mission goal of ‘Open the Way for Next Generation’ to invent ‘The Electronic-store System’ (TES) which was a new-tech trade and economic system able to form a global channel for the nascent entrepreneurs gain better market access, and also as tool of a multilateral trading system to meet the Bogor Goal which announced at APEC 1994. The ‘E-Commerce’ proposed at APEC 1998 was in the ‘TES’ and the ‘ICT’ at APEC 2000 as well. But Taiwan’s corrupt group totally ignored the international conventions to attack the inventor to lose her three rights—‘Work, Property and Life’ securing by the Article 15 of Constitution. The Lima Anti-Corruption Declaration emphasized on that plague of corruption, but the furious attack of Taiwan’s corrupt group more stronger since 2008, and reached their plot of ‘Destroy the Nest’ in 2013. Meanwhile, we’ve been seeing the decline of Taiwan society, but the entities of corruption are still impunity.

APEC Anti-Corruption Declaration is in line with the UNCAC, the world is in this megatrend of Anti-Corruption, towards risk reduction, lower obstacles and fewer barriers. During the APEC 2015 in Manila, under the topic of ‘Creating the Future: Better, Stronger, Together’, the global famous firm—PwC did a ‘2015 APEC CEO Survey’, the result shown that 21 APEC Economies, about doing business in APEC, Taiwan ranked just in the front of Papua New Guinea, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, Russia, Peru and Chile, and far behind in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Today, Taiwan is still hiring many foreign workers from Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. In case of continuing with impunity concerning the corrupt events such as food security, collusion between public and private, and those theft and infringement on IP; if it could not be ceased, serious tendency of decline might cause a certain day young Taiwanese to be Tai-labor of South-Asia countries..

TranSmart Card and Human Right

TranSmart Card and Human Right

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

The invention of TranSmart Card was to deliver wisdom, spread kindness for actuating the business opportunities of trillion dollars to create many new jobs, and approaching the mission goal of Rich Taiwan; so that ‘TranSmart Card’ is a very important public goods in line with Article 15 of the Constitution said : “The Rights to Work, to Property and to Life of the people shall be guaranteed." When a person loses the right to work, the other two rights also at stake or precarious. Therefore, talking about ‘TranSmart Card’ is likely talking about the level of Human Right.

Back to the background of inventing the ‘TranSmart Card’, I must mention that Taiwan experienced the recession in the period of 1982-1985, every sectors were pondering the way of upgrading the industries. It’s very difficult to endure until receiving the orders of Consumer Electronics in 1986, NT dollar was required to appreciated rapidly by the mighty power from US$1:NT$40 to US$1:25，Taiwan's national income was exploded on the surface, the manufacturing cost increased substantially, many foreign companies pulled out of Taiwan, they said: “Taiwan’s national income has exceeded US$ 3,000, there is no niche to invest here!” The most realistic consequence was left unemployed population to affect the social atmosphere; especially, the politics was uproar as President Chiang Ching-Kuo died on January 13, 1988. Under this background, ‘Way Back Into Love’ became the first priority. Consequently, I accelerated the research and development of ‘TranSmart Card’ and its transaction reading device (TRD/Toller) by means of the contactless-tech, expecting to form a new-tech trade and economic system (TES) as an instrumental solution to be a tool of salvation.

‘TES’ has two purposes: one is ‘Technologicalization of Traditional Industries’, another is ‘Intellectualization of Technological Industries’; the former can be attained through updating the existed stores or shops to the electronic-stores (eStores)—this has gained the bill of ‘E-Commerce’ at APEC 1998, the later can be through application of the ‘TranSmart Card’ as a key to open the door of entire commercial mechanism to penetrate the global markets, and to implement the mission goal of ‘Rich Taiwan’.

Recently, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je reviewed nearly a year about his administrative errors and said that “I’m harmed by a woman-- Yui Hatano!” The reason is that Taipei ‘EasyCard’ became ‘Yui Hatano card’-- in Taiwanese as ‘Boca’. The tide of Boca revealed the structural problems and mislead people. Actually, Yui Hatano is a dedicated porn star, she has an expertise place in the RX-rated films, those who were lack of knowledge unexpectedly put her image on the EasyCard—a common usage level. In my view, Yui Hatano is innocent in the event of Boca. In fact, Taipei EasyCard issued since 2002, it often came out the negative news, this is contrary with the original intention of inventing the ‘TranSmart Card’.

When we won the APEC Blueprint for Action on Electronic Commerce at APEC 1998, thereafter, we prepared the TranSmart Card & TRD to propose at Taipei City Hall on the 24^th day of May in 1999, those officials led by the Deputy Mayor Pai Hsiu-Hsiung looked at the demo in kind curiously, they saw the Lanyu Canoe printed on the card, questioned that “How to issue this TranSmart Card?” I answered: “To assemble the existed manpower to be a group for operation, no need to add any extra-expenses…”  TranSmart Card can be used for Taipei MRT because it already completed, and then expanding to the fields of transaction and identification, the job creation will be occurred naturally.

As to the issuance that can combine with those existing post offices, gas stations and Chain Stores, the TranSmart Card can be processed by the Central Bank and deemed as ‘National Currency’ to fill the treasury and to facilitate the implementation of government affairs. The most importance is upgrading the economy of Taiwan from ‘Island-based’ to ‘Ocean-based’ in order to meet the requirement of ‘Information Society’ in the 21st century. In conclusion, ‘TranSmart Card’ is invented for securing the human rights – like job creation, not for profiting the entities of corruption.

References:

Electronic payment system for public transportation - DIN ...

Patent US20030197061 - Shopping system - Google Patents

Patent US20030107468 - Entry security device - Google ...