Violent crime in Taipei has dropped 50 percent this year, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at a ceremony yesterday to celebrate the appointments of eight police precinct chiefs.
But critics say that the mayor's numbers simply don't add up.
There has "been a massive improvement in law and order in Taipei this year," Ma said.
According to government statistics, the mayor said, there were 499 violent crimes through July this year, down from 810 during the same period last year.
Furthermore, Ma said, "More than 60 percent of people in Taipei are satisfied with social order, according to a recent poll in June."
But DPP City Councilor Lo Tsung-sheng (
"Three serious shootings occurred in August alone. If the poll was conducted now, I am sure that the public perception of the police would be worse," he said.
Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), New Party councilor, agreed. "Even if we don't count those people who don't have an opinion, more than 20 percent of the people are dissatisfied with the current situation," Lee said.
"Ma should listen to the real voice of the public and not just look at the statistics," Lee said.
Lo said that Ma's use of the crime numbers discounts the seriousness of theft and said that theft was a fundamental concern for Taipei residents.
"Violent crimes only account for a small proportion of the total number of crimes committed," Lo said.
"What annoys people most is that theft is still rampant," Lo added.
The total number of crimes reported last year was 48,819, of which roughly 31,000 were thefts.
Through July of this year, there have been 18,429 reports of theft, slightly higher than the 17,670 reports during the same period last year.
"[Instances of] police shelving cases are not uncommon and some victims don't report their cases because they feel the police are incapable of solving crimes of theft," Lee said. "The actual number of cases is probably much higher."
Yesterday's ceremony was held to mark the first personnel shift under the new director of the Taipei City police, Wang Cho-chun (
The former director, Wang Chin-wang (
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
SECURITY: Grassroots civil servants would only need to disclose their travel, while those who have access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable. The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
RSS