Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday said that he was infuriated by the Chinese “abduction” of Taiwanese nationals, calling on the nation and the public to “take action” to demand an unconditional release and return of the seized Taiwanese to Taiwan.
Su said China’s illegal behavior was deplorable, and that Beijing’s justification that it was based on the idea that Taiwan is part of China is unacceptable.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) asked whether the Kenya imbroglio was the “fruit of Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay’s (羅瑩雪) recent visit to China.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Su Chih-fen said the incident has proved that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) diplomatic policy has been based on a dead-end policy of “kneeling” to China.
She said that Luo had just come back from China, where the minister, according to the ministry, trumpeted the effect and the outlook of the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議).
“Is China’s flagrant arrest of [our nationals] and returning them to Taiwan later under the table, or the internalizing of international affairs, what Luo’s visit to China delivered?” the lawmaker asked.
DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said China has “expanded its jurisdiction beyond all bounds,” putting all Taiwanese abroad at risk.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that China’s action has destroyed the “tacit judicial agreement” between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and that if China could force Taiwanese nationals abroad to be deported to its land, it could one day indict Taiwanese nationals abroad and have them forcibly sent to China.
“If every country follows what Kenya has done, the Chinese government could arrest Taiwanese nationals and send them to China for trial through its diplomatic allies,” former DPP legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said on Facebook yesterday.
“Beijing could use this tactic to fabricate accusations and then have those who fail to conform to Beijing’s political standards deported to China. This would have a chilling effect and seriously damage Taiwan’s sovereignty, human rights and democracy,” he said, calling on all Taiwanese to “get angry” and “protest to China and raise the country’s voice in the international community.”
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
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