In August I was privileged to be one of a five-person international panel assessing Taiwan’s performance against the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Taiwan (ROC) is not recognised by the United Nations, therefore it cannot be part of the UNCAC peer-review process. Taiwan continues its efforts to prove itself as an active democracy by running a parallel UNCAC process. As I did in 2022, I joined a panel of international experts for this latest review, with each member bringing expertise in particular areas; my focus was on corruption prevention.
New Zealand went through a similar review process last year when it was peer reviewed by Iceland and the Solomon Islands. TINZ led civil society advocacy through that review, with many of our recommendations subsequently reflected in the UNCAC Executive Summary.
This is the third Taiwan review since 2018 and so a general focus of the reviewers this time was the maturity element of effectiveness. This approach was backed up by civil society submitters.
Kevin Yeh, Chairman of Transparency International Taiwan, referred in the NGO consultation session to what he called the maturity test:
“At this stage, having law, agency, and procedure is no longer enough. We need to ask three questions: Do these institutions change behaviour? Do they actually reduce corruption risk? And can the results be demonstrated and trusted by the public?”
Taiwan has continued to develop its anti-corruption framework with remarkable vigour. The panel found notable improvements in legislation, policy and practice since the previous review in 2022, including:
- the introduction of the Taiwan Whistleblower Protection Act in 2024;
- broad formal adoption of board-approved integrity policies, responsible units and whistleblowing arrangements among listed companies;
- maintenance of a sophisticated risk-based anti-money-laundering system, supported by successive legislative reforms, comprehensive supervision, national and sectoral risk assessments, extensive outreach to reporting entities and an established financial intelligence unit;
- an extensive criminal-law framework addressing public-sector corruption and related economic offending;
- considerable development in Taiwan’s anti-money-laundering legislation and framework asset seizure regime, and international anti-criminal cooperation.
The panel provided many observations and 78 recommendations for improvement including beneficial ownership transparency; legislation of corporate criminal liability; better addressing of offshore bribery; and substantial change to its Lobbying Act.
There was no irony lost on me to be recommending improvements to the current Taiwan Lobbying Act and for a register of beneficial ownership, whilst also reflecting that New Zealand has not yet put these in place.
Corruption’s Impact
The other general theme was about corruption’s impact on the lives of citizens. Jose Ugaz, Chair of the Review Panel, and former Chairperson of Transparency International, noted in his opening address that:
“Today, corruption is much more than the misuse of public resources. It is an abuse of the power entrusted to an individual to serve the public interest, used to benefit private interests at the expense of the majority.
For this reason, corruption—particularly grand corruption—weakens institutions, distorts public decision-making, wastes resources, deepens inequality, encourages organized crime, promotes violence and violations of fundamental rights, and erodes citizens’ trust in the state.
When corruption becomes systemic, it undermines the rule of law, erodes democracies, and can jeopardize a country’s security and stability. Ultimately, corruption diverts public power from its fundamental purpose: to serve the people by upholding the common good.”
The final report of the Review panel will be available on the website of the Taiwan Ministry of Justice in due course.
