The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday called on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to explain her stance on the abolition of the death penalty, saying it does not rule out subjecting the controversial issue to a referendum.
The KMT caucus made the remarks during a news conference at the legislature, amid public fury over the brutal murder of a four-year-old girl, who was decapitated in front of her mother in an apparent random attack in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on Monday.
The girl’s death has renewed debate on the abrogation of capital punishment, which still exists in Taiwan. The last time a convict was put to death in the nation was in June last year, when six death-row inmates were executed.
Photo: CNA
“We strongly oppose scrapping the death penalty. A murderer must pay the price for his crime with his own life,” KMT deputy caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) told the news conference.
Lin said the tragedy is heart-wrenching and that the caucus held the news conference to ask opponents of the death penalty: “Do you think society can accept your proposal?”
KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) called on the Ministry of Justice to execute the 42 death-row inmates in the nation’s prisons as soon as possible to deter similar atrocities.
“The ministry has sought to put off the executions by citing two UN human rights conventions,” Lai said, referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ratified by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in May 2009.
Given increasing public calls for the abolition of the death penalty and many DPP members’ opposition to capital punishment, the ministry might become even less willing to carry out a death sentence once the new DPP administration is sworn in on May 20, Lai said.
Most murderers targeting young children in the past few years have not been put on death row because of the two UN conventions and the convicts’ claims of mental disorders, KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said.
“Should our future head of state insist on pushing for the abrogation of capital punishment, we do not rule out initiating a referendum to let the public decide,” Chiang said, urging judges to mete out the most severe sentence for child killers.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said a draft amendment she has proposed to the Criminal Code to subject people who kill children under the age of 12 to a mandatory death sentence or life sentence is set to be deliberated during a legislative committee meeting tomorrow.
Separately yesterday, Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said that society is still far from reaching a consensus on the abrogation of capital punishment.
“The death penalty still exists in the nation, though some people really want to see it gone. It requires a high level of public consensus to amend current laws,” Chang said after visiting people injured in the Formosa Fun Coast water park disaster in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) in June last year.
Chang said as a government official, he is not in a position to comment on the issue.
“We should leave this matter to the public to decide,” he said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS