Legislators across party lines are expressing growing indignation at revelations of alleged abuse of power by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) amid calls for SID Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) to resign.
“The SID’s abuse of power and human rights infringement are outrageous. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] cannot shirk their responsibility and Huang should step down,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said in Greater Taichung yesterday.
“Ma has never respected the Constitution or democracy; now the people see him in his true colors,” Su said.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in a press release that wiretapping the legislature was a “serious business” and officials involved should be suspended and investigated.
Tsai urged the Legislative Yuan to establish a special committee to probe if Ma had a role in manipulating the judiciary for political wiretapping.
DPP lawmaker Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the controversy showed the SID should be abolished, adding that he did not rule out proposing slashing the SID’s budget in the legislature.
In response to Su’s criticism of Ma, the KMT yesterday urged the DPP to address the breach of trust case involving DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘).
KMT Spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) questioned Su and the DPPs’ handling of Ker’s alleged involvement in the case, calling on the party to stop defending Ker, who has been lobbying in the legislature over his alleged involvement in the Formosa Telecom Investment Co (全民電通) scandal, for its political interests.
“DPP Chairman Su likes to talk about democracy and the establishment of a constitutional government; he should face the fact that Ker is the key in the lobbying case,” he said.
The DPP should not sidestep the issue by focusing criticism at Ma, Yin said. He did not comment on DPP accusations that the SID wiretapped a telephone line in the legislature.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS