Independent legislator Lo Fu-chu (
Lo filed a libel suit against DPP legislators Lee Wen-chung (
At a press conference on Saturday, the two DPP legislators had accused Lo of sending an army of gangsters to Yunlin County to help independent candidate Chang Jung-wei's (
Lo's men entered the county on 20 chartered tour buses, the DPP legislators said.
Lo is the self-proclaimed "spiritual leader" of one of Taiwan's major crime syndicates -- the Tientao Alliance (
The DPP legislators also said independent candidate Chang is involved in Lo's crime syndicate.
Yesterday, Lo called the accusations groundless and warned the two legislators that they could be jailed for their words, citing the fact that independent legislator Liao Hsueh-kuang (
DPP legislator Lee responded yesterday by calling Lo's legal action much more "civilized" than his previous behavior.
Lo has been accused of various reprisals against his political enemies. One of his bodyguards has been convicted for dragging independent legislator Liao out of his bed in the middle of the night and locking him in an abandoned dog kennel in Taipei County.
Chang, who had led in polls before the 921 earthquake, has fallen to third place after being linked to a construction company that built some buildings that collapsed in the earthquake, allegedly because of sub-standard construction.
DPP candidate Lin Chung-li (
The by-election was originally scheduled to be held Oct. 16, but was postponed to Nov. 6 due to the Sept. 21 earthquake. Some analysts have said the result could sway the outcome of the March presidential election.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
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