Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday proposed an amendment prohibiting military personnel from criticizing the government in public, while opposition legislators called the proposed law a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.
The legislature's Home and Nations Committee yesterday referred an amendment to Article 6 of the National Defense Act to the legislative floor with the DPP legislators' support.
If the amendment is passed by the legislature, it would prohibit military personnel from printing, distributing and posting information that is not politically neutral.
Members of the military are also prohibited from holding or joining partisan rallies, the draft bill says.
"The amendment is against freedom of speech, which is protected by the Constitution, so the amendment is unconstitutional," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
Lin and several opposition legislators did not attend yesterday's committee meeting.
DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (
In one of the controversial incidents, Major Tung Hwa-cheng (董華正), a military instructor at Taipei Senior High School in Shilin (士林), was detained last month by the Military High Court Prosecutors' Office and charged with inciting treason after he took part in an anti-Chen protest on Sept. 20.
At the protest, Tung showed a copy of a letter he had sent to Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑), in which he said any soldier would take the opportunity to murder the president in a war.
The prosecutor's office said that while Tung's participation in the protest was not a problem, it considered his appearance in uniform and the letter's content as a violation of the Military Criminal Code (
In addition, Chu Chao-kang (屈肇康), an army honor guard who posted a message in an Internet chatroom suggesting that he wanted to harm the president, was detained by military prosecutors in July.
Chu wrote in his message that when he took part in an honor guard to welcome Nauru President Ludwig Scotty on March 7: "I almost could not resist the urge to poke my M-1 rifle into the president's head."
Article 6 of the National Defense Act now requires military personnel to not engage in regional and party affiliations.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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