A group of 300 sex workers and their supporters took to the streets yesterday to call on the presidential candidates to make prostitution legal, prompting Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
The criminalization of prostitution violates the rights of sex workers to work in safe conditions, the protesters said, urging Hsieh and his rival, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), to abolish Article 80 of the Social Order and Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulates that selling sexual services is illegal, but that paying for such services is not.
In response, Hsieh signed an agreement to decriminalize prostitution within two years if elected. The group welcomed Hsieh's gesture and said it hoped it was not just an election ploy to garner votes.
PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP
Ma's campaign team declined to make any commitments, saying only that Ma would take their plea into consideration.
Ma's camp said there was no public consensus on whether prostitution should be legal, adding that Ma would hold public hearings on the matter if elected.
The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS), which organized the demonstration, said they were not completely satisfied with the responses of either camp, but added that time would tell if the winning candidate was sincere.
"It seems that Ma is shifting responsibility for solving this issue onto the public," COSWAS member Chung Chun-chu (
In September 1997, President Chen Shui-bian (
COSWAS said that decision has devastated the lives of many sex workers, who had no other way to make a living. Forced to continue working illegally, the workers also lost all legal options for recourse if they were hurt or cheated by customers, COSWAS said.
Before the clampdown, prostitutes could charge customers between NT$800 and NT$1,000 per 15 minutes and could demand their customers wear condoms or else refuse to have sex with them. Following the crackdown, working conditions have deteriorated drastically, COSWAS said, with most prostitution rings controlled by the mafia.
In 1999, when Ma became mayor of Taipei, he granted a two-year grace period for remaining brothels to close shop.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder
RSS