Different political leanings brought a gangster couple further fame yesterday after police investigated an alleged assault by one partner but the victim refused to press charges.
According to the Taipei police's Chunghsiao West Rd. station, former Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) Tiger Division (虎堂) head Chu Chia-hsun (朱家訓) and his girlfriend Kao Mei-fang (高美芳), former head of the Tiger Division's Phoenix Corps (虎鳳隊), called them around 1am yesterday because Chu allegedly beat Kao and Kao had bruises around her right eye.
The pregnant Kao told police that Chu beat her up because she mocked him while she was asking him whether he would lead protesters to join the presidential inauguration.
"You chicken! You are not patriotic," Kao was quoted as saying in response to her live-in boyfriend's disinclination to participate in a May 19 protest.
The police said that Chu beat Kao in their car on their way home. Kao was rushed to a hospital when officers discovered she was injured.
But Kao did not file a complaint, and the police let them leave.
"I now have a NT$300,000 debt, so I really can't afford to protest any more," Chu said. "But I did apologize to her. I should not have done what I did to her."
Chu and Kao have been involved in the pan-blue camp's rallies following the presidential election on March 20. They reportedly led gang members in these rallies and offered free food to protesters.
Since then, the pair have had heavy media coverage and have been invited onto TV talk shows.
Kao yesterday was quoted by local newspapers as saying that Chu was very jealous because she had been the focus of media attention.
Chu and Kao were rumored to have been involved in rioting during the protests, but the police found insufficient evidence to take further action on the matter.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS