There is no urgency to resolve the question of whether to abolish the death penalty, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday, in response to questions in the legislature about his stance on the issue.
Chiu said Taiwan maintains the death penalty — both in law and in practice — and his ministry has decided to continue carrying out the execution of death row inmates after grave consideration.
However, Taiwan is aware of the views of the international community, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — two international human rights covenants that Taiwan ratified in 2009, he said.
Any move to abolish capital punishment would be a complex process, Chiu said, adding that it has long been a contentious issue.
“I hope consensus can be forged through dialogue,” Chiu said at a legislative meeting, when asked whether his ministry planned to push for the abolition of the death penalty.
Ten days before Chiu took office on May 20, former minister of justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) ordered the execution of one of the 43 death row inmates. Cheng Chieh (鄭捷), who killed four people on a Taipei mass rapid transit train in 2014, was executed by three gunshots to the back on May 11.
In other developments, Chiu expressed support for a proposed same-sex partnership act.
Chiu made the remarks when answering questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女).
Chiu said that the ministry has commissioned Tsinghua University to conduct an impact study, adding that his ministry would propose its version of the draft act in a timely manner.
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
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