At the drop of a word by a pugnacious superintendent, the young protesters were suddenly handcuffed and brusquely forced to the ground by police officers before being dragged away, some screaming in pain, others at the brutality with which their peaceful sit-in had been broken up.
The dozens of activists, many of them veterans of other campaigns in recent months, were in Yuanli Township (苑裡), Miaoli County, to support local residents who oppose a controversial wind turbine construction project that has been forced upon them by an intransigent county government.
Amid the commotion, the superintendent, who earlier had been caught on film saying he “doesn’t understand the law,” warned the protesters they could be charged under articles 304 — causing, by violence or threats, another person to do something they have no obligation to do, or preventing another person from doing something that they have the right to do — and 306 — unlawfully entering a dwelling or structure of another person, the adjacent or surrounding grounds, or a vessel belonging to another — of the Criminal Code. Articles 304 and 306 carry a maximum of three years and one year imprisonment respectively.
Some of the protesters who were arrested were on the site; others, including the leader of the residents’ association, were nearby. By late Monday, an injunction had been issued against 14 of them.
This is the state of affairs under Miaoli Country Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻). Last year, 300 Miaoli police officers used unprecedented force against protesters, several of them elderly, who were protesting against the construction of a funeral house in Houlong Township (後龍). Several sustained injuries.
How the National Police Administration can countenance such behavior is beyond comprehension.
Contrast those recent events with the case of Liu Zhongkui (劉忠奎), president of Great Dragon Century, a Chinese cultural and arts management firm, who earlier this year was allowed to leave the country despite allegations that he had sexually assaulted a 20-year-old female employee at a hotel in Taipei (he reportedly gave her 250 yuan, along with an order to keep her mouth shut, after forcing himself on her). Rather than investigate or even question Liu Zhongkui, the Taipei City Police Department facilitated the escape of a possible criminal, who could have faced up to five years in prison (ironically, there are echoes of Article 304 in this).
Surely, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration’s “goodwill” policy toward China does not entail turning Taiwan’s 23 million people into servants of the Chinese. Surely it does not mean that Chinese visitors with political connections can behave as they see fit, rape Taiwanese women and not suffer the consequences.
How much longer will Taiwan look the other way when Chinese break the law in Taiwan, steal from hotel rooms, repeatedly vandalize natural parks and monuments, collect intelligence or relieve themselves in the middle of an international airport? If it continues like this, the Chinese could be excused for thinking that they own the place and rule Taiwan.
This must stop. Now. Police can no longer be allowed to be complicit in a system that cracks down on innocent Taiwanese who are fighting for the future of their country, while allowing Chinese visitors to get away with murder.
Chinese are not above the law, and Taiwanese are not below it. Anyone who thinks otherwise, people like Liu Cheng-hung and whoever allowed Liu Zhongkui to escape, should bear the full consequences for their views. Taiwanese have been obsequious for far too long. It is time to grow a spine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has prioritized modernizing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to rival the US military, with many experts believing he would not act on Taiwan until the PLA is fully prepared to confront US forces. At the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress in 2022, Xi emphasized accelerating this modernization, setting 2027 — the PLA’s centennial — as the new target, replacing the previous 2035 goal. US intelligence agencies said that Xi has directed the PLA to be ready for a potential invasion of Taiwan by 2027, although no decision on launching an attack had been made. Whether
A chip made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) was found on a Huawei Technologies Co artificial intelligence (AI) processor, indicating a possible breach of US export restrictions that have been in place since 2019 on sensitive tech to the Chinese firm and others. The incident has triggered significant concern in the IT industry, as it appears that proxy buyers are acting on behalf of restricted Chinese companies to bypass the US rules, which are intended to protect its national security. Canada-based research firm TechInsights conducted a die analysis of the Huawei Ascend 910B AI Trainer, releasing its findings on Oct.
In honor of President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, my longtime friend and colleague John Tkacik wrote an excellent op-ed reassessing Carter’s derecognition of Taipei. But I would like to add my own thoughts on this often-misunderstood president. During Carter’s single term as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, despite numerous foreign policy and domestic challenges, he is widely recognized for brokering the historic 1978 Camp David Accords that ended the state of war between Egypt and Israel after more than three decades of hostilities. It is considered one of the most significant diplomatic achievements of the 20th century.
In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Upside on Uncertainty in Taiwan,” Johns Hopkins University professor James B. Steinberg makes the argument that the concept of strategic ambiguity has kept a tenuous peace across the Taiwan Strait. In his piece, Steinberg is primarily countering the arguments of Tufts University professor Sulmaan Wasif Khan, who in his thought-provoking new book The Struggle for Taiwan does some excellent out-of-the-box thinking looking at US policy toward Taiwan from 1943 on, and doing some fascinating “what if?” exercises. Reading through Steinberg’s comments, and just starting to read Khan’s book, we could already sense that
RSS