Hsiao Teng-piao (蕭登標), a former Chiayi County Council speaker who has been on the run from police since 1996, said during an interview with a cable TV station yesterday that he would report to the Chiayi District Prosecutors' Office himself within days, the Chinese-language media said yesterday.
Hsiao said in the interview with TVBS that Minister of Justice Yeh Chin-fong (
Hsiao, who has been on the run since police targeted him during a large-scale anti-gangster crusade in 1996, faces five charges should he be arrested. The charges range from blackmail and fraud to gambling.
Hsiao said he was "framed" by former Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao (
Hsiao also said the main reason why he failed to show up as he had promised in the Legislative Yuan about a week ago is the presence of a large number of heavily-armed police awaiting his arrival. He had notified the media that he was to hold a press conference there.
Hsiao asked Minister of the Interior Huang Chu-wen (
He took full responsibility for evading police, claiming that no one helped him flee arrest during the past three years. He also said he has been in Taiwan the entire time and that reports to the contrary were just rumors.
The interview, however, has embarrassed the Ministry of Justice, which failed to find Hsiao before the media. The ministry said the Chiayi District Prosecutors' Office would find Hsiao's whereabouts through the TV station.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
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