Clashes broke out in the legislature yesterday as ruling party and opposition lawmakers pushed and shoved to take over the podium during a plenary meeting of the extra legislative session.
A male lawmaker complained of being bitten by a female colleague, while another female lawmaker screamed as she was frog-marched from the podium by a male opponent. Several legislators also had coffee sprayed on their faces during a scuffle.
The podium was first occupied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, who were instructed by the party on Monday night to assemble outside the legislative chamber before 6:30am. When Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers arrived soon after, fighting broke out.
Photo: CNA
Running out of the legislative hall in tears, KMT Legislator Wang Huei-mei (王惠美) told reporters she could not believe it when DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) grabbed her hands from behind and dragged her away from the podium.
“It’s the last day of the extra legislative session. What I was asking was that we should begin reviewing bills. Why did he attack a woman?” Wang asked.
Yao said he was trying to tell Wang not to jostle for space with DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑), who was already on the podium.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-jen (吳育仁) showed reporters a bite mark on his upper left arm, accusing DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) of biting him when she rushed into the chamber and saw him standing on the podium.
“I didn’t feel pain at first, but it began to hurt an hour or two later. I think she bit me really hard,” Wu said.
Wu later posted a message on his Facebook page saying that he had taken a doctor’s advice and received a tetanus shot to prevent possible infection.
In response, Lin accused Wu of pressing his body against her and scratching her frantically.
“I bit him because he touched my breasts,” Lin said.
Lin apologized to DPP legislators Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) and Hsueh Ling (薛凌) and to KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) for accidentally spraying them with water and coffee during the confrontation. She refused to apologize to Wu.
“Why should I apologize to someone who touched my breasts?” Lin said.
Several DPP lawmakers also demanded that Wu apologize to Lin.
Later last night, Wu denied that he deliberately touched Lin’s breasts, but added that if she felt uncomfortable about the incident, he was willing to apologize.
KMT Legislator Ma Wen-Chun (馬文君) also wrestled with Lin in a separate clash.
In another round of fighting, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) was bundled into the back of KMT Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) and pulled out some of the latter’s hair.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) checked into a hospital, saying she injured her back after she was pushed to the ground and could barely stand up.
The KMT occupied the podium to ensure the passage of a number of controversial bills, while the DPP and the TSU staged a boycott to protest the signing of a cross-strait service trade agreement om Friday last week in Shanghai.
Lawmakers managed to reach a consensus on how to handle the controversial issues at 12:45pm, bringing the nearly six-hour long deadlock to an end.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
A registered sex offender from the US who went missing after entering Taiwan has been found and would be deported in light of the risk he poses to the public, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday. The agency launched a search for Levi Forrest Wallace, 43, after it was informed by the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) that he had entered Taiwan on Oct. 2 on a tourist visa. He was not on the US government’s wanted list. Wallace was sentenced to 90 days in jail with a two-year probation in 2001 after he was convicted of sexual delinquency of
RSS