Fei Shi-ping (
Born in China's Liao-ning Province, Fei was one of the few DPP members from China.
As a KMT member, his party membership was revoked for his involvement in an incident with Lei Chen (雷震) -- a well-known political prisoner and democracy activist who was charged with sedition during the early years of the KMT's rule.
Afterward Fei gradually became connected with the Taiwanese-dominated dang wai movement in the late 1980s and became a prominent leader in the movement. When the DPP was founded in 1986, he was a candidate for the party's founding chairman, but lost the post by one vote.
In 1988, he broke away from the DPP due to discord with his party colleagues on ethnic issues. He left the party and then faded away from the political scene after he moved to the US.
The only DPP senior legislator in the "permanent parliament," whose members the KMT claimed would stand for re-election once they recovered China, Fei became a target when the DPP pushed for parliamentary reform. He was under pressure from the DPP to give up his seat in the legislature. The issue was a source of great tension between him and the party.
Fei became a political loner, sandwiched between his former KMT comrades and his new Taiwanese DPP friends. Leading dang-wai figure Kang Ning-hsiang (康寧祥), now the secretary-general of the National Security Council, was one of his few political allies.
The democratic movement was helped by many liberal mainlander scholars, who provided the theoretical foundation for the necessity of establishing a constitutional democracy. Fei was one of them. But this group of intellectuals left the party one-by-one due to disagreements over ethnic issues.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could