Two spectators who attended games during the 2001 Asian Women's Soccer Championships in Taipei yesterday accused former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of lying, saying Taipei police had told them they could not bring the national flag to the event.
Showing pictures taken during the game, Huang Shu-chun (
"I feel so sad that in my own country I could not bring the national flag to an event," Huang said at the Taipei City Council.
Wu said to take the flag into the stadium they had cut it into four pieces so that police would not find it.
Huang said Ma's contention that the city government had never banned people from taking the national flag to international games, or that police had used a "light" approach to dissuade people from using it, was a lie and asked that he make a public apology.
"The things you've done will leave a mark. Ma did ban us from carrying the national flag at the game. He failed to protect Taipei City and Taiwanese," she said.
Accompanying the duo, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (
In response, Ma said yesterday that the issue of the national flag showed that the DPP had joined forces with China to repress the Republic of China, adding that he would sue Yen and former DPP legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) for defamation.
Ma spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) called on DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to encourage all DPP members and supporters to wave the national flag and sing the national anthem during its rallies on Saturday to show their passion for national symbols.
"If the DPP fails to do so, it would make it clear that it is cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party to repress the Republic of China, because both of them refuse to fly the national flag," he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial