A journalist for online news agency Newtalk went to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday to press charges against New Taipei City police in a bid to uphold freedom of the press, and to protest against police violence toward media workers.
News reporter Lin Yu-yo (林雨佑) was accompanied by Newtalk editor-in-chief Leon Chuang (莊豐嘉) as he filed suit against the police over incidents arising from media coverage of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zijun’s (張志軍) visit to Taiwan in June.
“This lawsuit is to let the government’s operating apparatus know that freedom of the press is a cherished value. It must not be trampled under by police violence… We hope the lawsuit can deter police from using violent tactics against journalists in the future,” Lin said.
Photo: Chien Lee-chung, Taipei Times
Lin was sent to cover Zhang’s trip to an Aboriginal village in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) on June 26.
Protesters and civic groups, led by the Black Island National Youth Front were there to block the road to the village and Lin was at the scene to report on the situation, as police moved in to remove protesters by force.
Lin said he showed his press badge to the police and was not interfering with the police actions as he videotaped officers rounding up and detaining protesters with plasticuffs.
“Then all of a sudden, several police officers came over and began to shove and physically assault me to prevent me from videotaping the scene. I showed them my press badge, but they continued to manhandle me, and were going to handcuff me as well,” he said.
“One commanding police officer yelled at me: ‘Who gave you the press credentials?’ Another said: ‘You have a press badge, so what? You and the protesters should all be rounded up.’ It was clear that the police were preventing journalists from reporting on what was going on, with the malicious intent to suppress press freedom,” Lin said.
“In recent years, we have seen the vigorous growth of civic society movement activities in Taiwan,” Chuang said. “The police should be more prudent in enforcing state authority.”
“However, we are seeing more police violence incidents against citizens. So we had little choice but to press charges against the police. We are doing this to urge the authorities to guarantee the protection of press freedom,” he said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS