In order to gain a better understanding of contemporary integrity trends and to serve as a reference for formulation and execution of integrity policy, on December 12th, 2014, the AAC and Transparency International Chinese Taipei collaborated to hold the “2014 Conference of Integrity and Governance” at the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation’s Evergreen International Convention Center. The conference invited members of Transparency International of the Asia Pacific region as well as expert scholars from Norway, Austria, Singapore, Korea and Mongolia with practicical experience in the field of integrity. The Conference included discussion about the subjects of “The Structure and practice of an integrity System”, “The Effectiveness and Challenges of Specialized integrity Institutions” and “New Global Trends and Important Topics Regarding Anti-Corruption”.

During the opening remarks of the conference Administrative Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice Bi-Yu Tsai pointed out that in the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) published by Transparency International on December 3rd, 2014, Taiwan ranked 35th out of the 175 countries and regions evaluated. Taiwan moved up one place from the previous year. We still have a lot to improve and need to make more anti-corruption efforts, even though Taiwan ranks higher than 80% of the countries in the world. Therefore, international and domestic ethical governance expert scholars were invited to attend this conference in hopes that we can strengthen international interaction in integrity cooperation networks as well as gain a deeper understanding of related global trends.

For the first topic of “The Structure and Practice of integrity System”, the Chief Excutive of Transparency International Norwegian branch Guro Slettemark introduced their experience of evaluating the “Integrity System”. The Inspector General of Korean Gyeonggi Province Office of Education Dr. Geo-Sung Kim introduced Korean experience in implementing “The Korean Pact on Anti-Corruption and Transparency”. Both of the speakers emphasized the necessity of cooperation between the public and private sectors in fighting corruption. During the discussion AAC Deputy Director-General Ming-Chian Cheng pointed out that even though Transparency International Chinese Taipei has not yet carried out the “National Integrity System Indicators Evaluation”, currently the country’s highest integrity guidance program “The National Integrity Establishment Action Plan” was formulated according to the principles of the “National Integrity System” and the “United Nation Convention Against Corruption”. After being passed by the Central Integrity Committee the action plan will be implemented by the Executive Yuan. This action includes 9 specific actions and 91 categories of execution methods. The action plan which executed by competent authorities, will lead public and private sectors to work together with duties of construction of a clean government. The action plan will be controlled under the jurisdiction of the National Development Council. In other words, the implementation and control of “The National Integrity System” has become a very important priority for the government of Taiwan.

During the second topic of discussion “The Effectiveness and Challenges of Specialized integrity Institutions”, honorary professor of the University of Singapore Jon Quah gave countermeasure to the causes of Taiwan’s corruption problems. In his opinion, compared with Singapore Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption, Agency Against Corruption is relatively underfunded and undermanned. He suggested that the government should give enough power, budget and personnel to the agency. During the discussion AAC Director-General Jer-Shyong Lai responded that AAC has worked closely with the Investigation Bureau to carry out anticorruption efforts jointly since the establishment on July 20th, 2011. On August 1st, 2013, the “Guidelines for Collaborative Anti-Corruption Operation between the Ministry of Justice Agency Against Corruption and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau” were established in order to collaborate the anti-corruption effort effectively, create direct communication, increase the shared resource and pool the strength of both institutions. Then both sides can share out the work and cooperate with one another. Since the guidelines were implemented, the two institutions have already worked together on total 82 cases as of October 2014. This cooperation model led two institutions uncovering several corruption cases either by working individually or together.

During the third discussion topic “New Global Trends and Important Topics Regarding Anti-Corruption”, Professor Christian Göbel from the University of Vienna, who was responsible for executing the EU Anti-Corruption Research Plan was invited as the main speaker. Professor Göbel provided analysis regarding the history of corruption and anti-corruption efforts in Taiwan. He expressed that Taiwan has already significantly strengthened its anti-corruption efforts through the process of democratization and the changing of ruling parties. However, democratization is a necessary condition for fighting corruption but not sufficient; systematic and cultural reformations are also a key to improving the efficiency of fighting corruption.

During his closing remarks for the ceremony, Political Vice Minister Wu Chen-Huan of the Ministry of Justice pointed out that the problem of corruption is a subject that is receiving significant attention from all countries around the world. Strengthening international cooperation in anti-corruption matters has become a global trend. The research and advices shared by the international and domestic academic experts at this conference will greatly help Taiwan to continue formulating anti-corruption policies. In addition, after the conference the AAC will compile the recommendations of all attending scholars, and then continue to keep an eye closely on the status of the implementation of the “Local Integrity System” evaluation indexes, the Clean City projects and the establishment of the “Global Ethical Governance Evaluation Index” by the Asia Pacific branch of Transparency international. These efforts will serve as important references for the planning and execution of Taiwan’s integrity policy.

Additionally, in order to encourage the exchange of ideas and opinions regarding ethical governance work experience between different countries, during the conference international guests were arranged to visit the New Taipei City Government, where they can listen to representatives from the Civil Service Ethics Office to introduce the practical methods that have been used during the last 2 years for carrying out local government ethical governance evaluation. It was also arranged for representatives from the city of Ulan Bator to meet with the Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission. Members from the commission had introduced to the guests the experience of the Taiwanese government in operating our procurement system. These exchanges developed meaningful opportunities effectively for international integrity cooperation efforts.