President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pledged to investigate all corruption scandals across party lines, but added that he would use his authority carefully and refrain from interfering with the judicial system.
Recent detentions of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former government officials served as a warning for his administration and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the government will insist on integrity and prevent corruption, Ma said.
“I do not take pleasure in the detention of former government officials ... We are the ruling party and thus we need to use our authority more carefully, investigating all corruption scandals across party lines no matter who is involved in the cases,” Ma said yesterday at the KMT’s 17th national congress at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.
PHOTO: CNA
Dismissing challenges from some party members over what has been called his lack of determination to investigate corruption cases involving Chen, Ma said that he had done “everything a president can do” to combat corruption by members of the former Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) government, but stressed that he would not abuse his power and that his administration would build a society based on law.
Ma also defended his determination to protect Taiwanese sovereignty while making efforts to improve cross-strait relations.
He vowed to continue promoting his “diplomatic truce” policy while maintaining the country’s defensive forces by purchasing arms from the US.
Ma said that his administration would continue to focus on seeking meaningful participation in activities by the UN’s specialized agencies.
Instead of bidding for full membership in the global body as Taiwan had in the past, the Ma administration sought “meaningful participation” in activities under UN specialized agencies at the WHA held in May.
Speaking about clashes between the police and protesters during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) earlier this month, Ma again voiced his support for an amendment to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), but said it was important to strike a balance between protecting the public’s right to gather and maintaining public order.
Ma once again called on the public to have faith in the government’s ability to lead the country out of the current economic slowdown, urging all political parties to set aside ideological differences and tackle the crisis.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is