Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu said Wednesday at a legislative hearing that Taiwan would continue to respect the rule of law and continue enforcement of the death penalty despite condemnation from the European Union (EU).
Speaking at a hearing of the Legislative Yuan's Judiciary Committee just five days after Taiwan executed five death row inmates, Tseng said Taiwan was determined to govern according to the law, and he promised legislators that he "can handle any pressure."
The five executions have been condemned by the EU, the European Parliament and many human rights groups, including Amnesty International, since being carried on March 4.
In response to lawmakers' questions, Tseng said he had not received any information on reported suggestions by EU parliamentarians to scrap Taiwan's EU visa-waiver treatment because of the executions.
There was no linkage between the two issues, Tseng said, because Taiwan did not make any promises on stopping or suspending the implementation of the death penalty to the EU during the bloc's screening of an EU visa-waiver for Taiwan, which took effect on Jan. 11.
But he noted that Taiwan would explain its stance on its continued use of capital punishment to the EU to deal with the concerns it has raised.
Taiwan's March 4 executions were carried out less than a year after the MOJ resumed the enforcement of the death penalty last April under pressure from the families of victims of violent crime, ending an unofficial moratorium that had existed since 2005.
President Ma Ying-jeou has said Taiwan hoped to abolish the death penalty in the future, but most legislators, pressured by their constituents, oppose the abolition of capital punishment.
Chou Yi, a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) legislator, urged the justice minister at the hearing to carry out executions of death row inmates because "we cannot wait for another year for the next executions."
But Tseng responded that there was no timetable for future executions, saying he could not predict when executions would happen.
The ministry will not deliberately postpone executions, but "there are currently no new execution orders on my desk either, " the minister told lawmakers. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls