Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) sparked a controversy for allegedly pressuring a police officer not to give her a parking ticket.
On Tuesday last week, she and her husband parked their vehicle in a no parking zone in a lane along Guangfu S Road in the capital before going into a restaurant. The officer’s body cam footage, which was later released, showed Hsu’s husband emerging from the restaurant and spotting the officer checking their vehicle’s license plate. The police officer told him that he would be receiving a parking ticket.
Hsu joined the men, pulled down her mask and identified herself, informing the police officer that the car belonged to her.
“I thought if the driver was around, you just gave a verbal warning? This is what other police officers told me,” Hsu said. “So do you go directly to handing out parking tickets now?”
Telling the officer several times to go ahead and write up the ticket, Hsu said: “We can settle this later.”
Her husband again urged the officer to give them the ticket, saying that it would put them in a “difficult situation” not to receive one, while the officer told them that giving them the ticket would put him in “an even more difficult” situation. The officer finally let them go without issuing the ticket.
Later, someone posted the incident on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) online bulletin board, accusing Hsu of abusing her power, while the police officer was given two reprimands for “malfeasance.”
The incident fueled furious debate among politicians and the public, where deep-blue KMT members, such as Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), left messages of support for Hsu, while members of the public lambasted her for using her position to avoid being fined.
Hsu has so far not offered a formal apology for the incident, but said in a statement: “This has severely damaged my reputation and the situation has been extremely stressful. That’s why I intend to sue.”
That an incident involving a NT$900 ticket could turn into such a controversy reveals several issues:
First, the incident could give people the impression that politicians enjoy certain privileges. This would be a huge setback for politicians, who have been trying to polish their image over the past few years. They would like the public to believe that undue influence has long been abolished, that all are equal under the law, but Hsu has shown that corruption has yet to be completely uprooted.
Second, Internet users have interpreted Hsu’s “we can settle this later” to mean that she intended to talk to the officer’s supervisor, which purportedly was the reason he was reprimanded. After all, city councilors review police department budgets. The officer’s punishment is likely to lower the morale of other officers carrying out their duties.
Third, Hsu’s response following the incident has only reinforced the KMT’s negative image. As a rising star in the party, Hsu had a fresh image, but the support from deep-blue members only attracted deep-blue voters, while her ineffective apology and apparent lack of contrition have alienated everyone else.
KMT leaders — from KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) to Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) — have remained silent. The incident has shown that Taiwanese prefer fairness and justice over corruption and abuses of power.
Even for something as trivial as a parking infraction, the wiser approach would have been to just accept the ticket and go.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS