The honeymoon for Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
Hostile legislators blasted the incoming minister as incompetent as he delivered a report in the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Without identifying Su's indiscretions, the legislators openly doubted Su's ability to maintain law and order and whether the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) would be able to identify the perpetrator of the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (
"I bet you won't be able to get to the bottom of the assassination attempt within one year. If you do, I promise to commit suicide. Are you willing to make the bet with me?" asked independent Legislator Chu Hsing-yu (
The session was meant to discuss police involvement in the pan-blue camp's April 10 rally in Taipei, which ended in violent protest and gangster infiltration, and the MOI's investigation into the assassination attempt on Chen and Lu.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Shen Chih-hui (沈智慧), who was injured during the April 10 protest, demanded that Taipei police issue a public apology by the end of the day, complete with a press release, for causing her injuries and those of other PFP legislators, and for suggesting her driver had connections to organized crime groups.
Although the subject of the session was the assassination attempt and protest, many legislators focused instead on the robbing of Su's wife, Hung Heng-chu (
Referring to the incident, PFP legislators questioned Su's ability to maintain order on a national scale.
PFP Legislator Lee Ching-hua (
"What could be expected for national security under Su?" Lee asked.
"If I were able to fix the nation's security problems within 10 days, then surely I would be God," Su replied.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but