Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) proposal to decriminalize prostitution received a mixed reaction from legislators yesterday.
When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) said she had doubts about the possible impact on the nation’s traditional ethics.
“After all, there is a significant difference between the traditional morality in Taiwan and the West’s ideas about sex,” Yang said.
“If we abolish punishment for prostitutes, the bill could deal a blow to society,” she said.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said it would be very difficult for the legislature to pass the bill as legalizing prostitution remains a controversial issue.
The legislators were responding to a bill proposed by Cheng last week that would amend the existing law under which prostitutes are punished but their clients are not.
The Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) allows law enforcement authorities to detain prostitutes for a maximum of three days and fine them up to NT$30,000 (US$880).
Authorities also have the power to send prostitutes to correction institutions for a period of between six months and 12 months.
Cheng’s proposal seeks to abolish these regulations and to legalize sexual transactions between consenting adults.
Cheng, who had previously sent her legislative aides to probe the issue at the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, told reporters on Sunday that decriminalizing prostitution would help sex workers as current legislation makes it impossible for them to seek assistance from law enforcement authorities if they suffer violence, abuse or discrimination.
Her proposal garnered enough signatures for it to be discussed on the legislative floor.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Sunday said legislators could hold public hearings to gauge public opinion on the issue.
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said he supported the bill under the precondition that the government takes strict measures to manage the sex industry.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said the caucus has not taken a position on the issue.
“Different DPP legislators have different positions, and I think it will be hard to form a consensus on such a controversial issue,” Lee said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS