Liu Tai-ying Libel Action
In 1996, Chan collaborated with Shieh Chung-liang, the Taiwan bureau chief of the Hong Kong-based magazine Yazhou Zhoukan to investigate possible Taiwanese contributions to US President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign. The pair wrote an article that appeared on October 25 reporting that Liu Tai-ying, the business manager of Taiwan's Kuomintang political party, had offered $15 million to Mark Middleton, an ex-Clinton White House aide. The article also printed a denial from Liu that he had offered the money. Liu went on to file a criminal libel suit against the pair on 7 November. Chen Chao-ping, a political consultant named as the source of the story, was added as a co-defendant. Liu also filed a civil suit for $15 million in damages.
Calling the trial "a test case for press freedom in Asia", The Committee to Protect Journalists filed an amicus brief on their behalf, as did ten major US media companies. The Kuomintang called a special meeting to endorse the libel suit and condemn Chan and Shieh. However, a Taiwanese district court ruled in the pair's favor on 22 April 1997. The ruling was "hailed as a landmark decision" for press freedom by media watchdog groups, in part because Judge Lee Wei-shen's decision acknowledged the constitutional right to a free press for the first time in Taiwanese judicial history.
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