Popular singer Yu Tien's (
"Yu was given a death sentence in March by the Chinese court for smuggling heroin to Xiamen, and he was executed yesterday with others sentenced to death," Hong Kong newspapers reported.
Yu Tien yesterday confirmed his younger brother was executed yesterday.
The newspapers said last March, two Chinese travelers were caught by Chinese authorities carrying 10 bricks of heroin, totalling 3.8kg, from Thailand. The heroin had a street value of NT$100 million, the reports said.
Reports also added that the two travelers told police at Xiamen they were hired by a Taiwanese national named Chen Ping-huang (
Chen, who lives in China, fled from Fujian Province to Guangxi Province after discovering police were looking for him, the reports said.
Chen was then arrested in Guangxi Province and later told police that Yu Fu-Hsing, Yu Tien's younger brother, was the key man in the smuggling operation.
Chen told police the heroin was bought from Myanmar into Thailand. Yu and he initially planed to transport it to Taiwan by boat, but because of Taiwan's tightened security at the time, they decided to transport the drugs to Xiamen and wait some time before bringing it across the Taiwan Strait.
Reports also said Chinese police arrested Yu in Xiamen late last year.
Responding to reports of his brother's execution, Yu Tien yesterday cried as he said, "In my next life, I want him to be my brother again."
Yu told reporters his younger brother was adopted as a child and had a bad life. He said he should have taken more care of his younger brother.
He said his 49-year-old brother moved to Xiamen 12 years ago and married a Chinese woman.
Yu's father, however, was less sympathetic. He told reporters his son deserved the death sentence because he committed a serious crime.
"He was a troublemaker in my family, and I will not cry for him," he said.
Yu was executed by lethal injection, the newspaper reports said.
International organizations have expressed concern about the large number of people in China who are put to death every year.
According to the international human rights organization Hands Off Cain, China accounted for over 90 percent of the over 5,000 people executed by governments around the world last year.
Yu Tien has four younger brothers and one younger sister. His another younger brother Yu Long (
Yu is one of the most popular singers in the country and is considered influential in entertainment circles because of his ability to resolve disputes. He has said he is thinking about running for a Taipei City councilor's seat in the year-end elections.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
Hong Kong’s Andy Lau (劉德華) on Wednesday announced that he would perform in Taiwan for the first time since 2013, with four shows at the Taipei Arena from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. The concerts are part of Lau’s upcoming “Today... is the Day” tour, which began in Shanghai yesterday. He is also to perform in Singapore and Malaysia as part of the tour. In a news release, Lau said it felt good to be able to rehearse his dancing and singing for the tour, even though he had to don a face mask. “Holding these concerts has been something I have
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash