The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday demanded that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “reveal her stance” on the abolition of the death penalty, which is supported by candidates of the New Power Party (NPP), which the DPP endorses.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏), KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) criticized NPP legislative candidate Freddy Lim (林昶佐) over his burning of a Republic of China flag, and calls for the legalization of marijuana and the abolition of capital punishment.
The KMT officials asked whether Tsai endorses Lim’s actions and beliefs.
“NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Lim and Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), the party’s district legislative candidates, are all for the abolition of capital punishment. Chairperson Tsai, do you support their stance?” Wang Hong-wei asked. “It is a question that should not be shunned.”
“There have been small, innocent children murdered in Taipei. Do we still want the death penalty to be abolished?” Alicia Wang asked.
“Seeing lives being taken and society plunged into fear by people like Cheng Chieh (鄭捷), do we still want to do away with capital punishment?” she asked.
Cheng attacked passengers on Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit system on May 21, 2014, killing four people and injuring 22 on the Bannan Line.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,