Gay and lesbian rights activists yesterday released a list of legislative candidates they consider to be homophobic and urged gay and lesbian voters to boycott them in next Saturday's election.
"There are some things that gay and lesbian voters must keep in mind," Chen Po-chieh (
Thirty candidates across party lines were listed on the boycott list.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Shih-cheng (
"Discrimination has always been the cause of hate crimes in human history. Undoubtedly, Wang should be the most condemned and boycotted legislative candidate of all because of his undisguised insults to gays and lesbians," Chen said.
He called on gays and lesbians to "look beyond green and blue," as "both the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and the DPP put their party interests above that of minority groups and values of diversity and gender equality," he said.
At the end of the news conference, representatives from several gay and lesbian groups urged voters to throw their support behind the Green Party Taiwan.
"There are certainly lawmakers who pay attention to issues concerning gay and lesbian rights," Chen said. "However, in the current political climate ... those who care about minority groups cannot speak out," and therefore a third party that focuses on social issues must be supported.
Besides Wang, legislative candidates on the boycott list are Alex Fai (
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we