Kaohsiung District Court yesterday convicted the first of 40 people embroiled in a vote-buying scandal during the election of the Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) last year.
Councilor Chang Wen-hsiu (
The other three convicted yesterday were all city councilors.
Lin Shou-shan (
While the ruling prevents all five from running for election, it does not affect their positions in the city council and Legislative Yuan. They may appeal up to the level of High Court.
Kaohsiung District Court Judge Lin Shui-cheng (
Except for Lin Ching-hsing, who was overseas, the other four councilors said they would decide whether to appeal when they receive notification of the ruling.
Lin Ching-hsing and his former wife, who were both DPP members at the time, were taped by Kaohsiung City Government cameras accepting NT$5 million from Chu. They were both expelled by the DPP.
According to the ruling, since these two denied the charges and behaved badly in court, their sentences were not suspended. The NT$5 million in bribe money was confiscated.
Lin Shou-shan and Yang were both former PFP members who were also expelled by the party after the scandal was exposed.
According to the ruling, Lin Shou-shan received NT$2 million and Yang NT$5 million for their votes. The money was confiscated in both cases.
Lin Kun-shan was a DPP member at the time of the election and received a bribe of NT$5 million. He returned the money, minus NT$200,000 he had spent, to Chu when the scandal was exposed. Lin was expelled by the DPP later and was fined the amount he had spent.
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
WORK TOGETHER: The US cannot assume it does not need friends, Haley said, calling isolationism unhealthy and echoing Pence’s calls to stand with Taiwan Taiwan and the US should jointly call on the UN to hold a hearing on UN Resolution 2758 and curbing China’s aggression, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said yesterday in Taipei. The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 on Oct. 25, 1971, which states that the People’s Republic of China is the legitimate government of China, which led to it replacing the Republic of China in the UN. However, the resolution “never mentioned ‘Taiwan,’” and the UN should not “allow the Chinese Communist Party to hijack a resolution and claim it’s about Taiwan,” Haley told a news conference. Taiwan should
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data