Police in Taichung have been criticized after images emerged of a five-year-old boy taking a breath alcohol test after he crashed his bicycle into a car parked in an alley.
The sobriety test is a standard police tool used in all traffic-related incidents, the Wufeng police precinct said on Saturday.
All people involved in a traffic accident, regardless of age, must be checked for alcohol, even if a bicycle is involved, it said.
The National Police Agency said that in accordance with the principle of fairness, officers are required to take statements from all parties involved in an accident, sobriety tests included.
There was no misconduct on the part of the officer, as he acted in accordance with standard police procedure, it said.
The incident came to light when the owner of a white Tesla posted a photograph of the boy taking the breath test on social media on Friday, writing: “The little boy was really brave and faced up to the problem” and: “Luckily, the boy is OK.”
After being criticized for posting the photo, the owner said that his intention was to show how responsible the boy was, as he did not run away, but called his parents and explained what had happened.
While some derided the police for submitting a child to an alcohol test, others criticized the car owner for overreacting to a trivial matter, saying he should have settled the matter with the boy’s parents instead of calling the police.
However, the owner said he contacted the authorities because he needed an official police report to give his insurance company to cover the repairs.
He reached an agreement with the family, who live next door, over repairs to the car, he wrote.
The boy’s mother asked why the breath test was needed and suggested that the police should be more flexible in such situations.
The Wufeng precinct later said it would bring this issue to the attention of higher authorities and would ask if children involved in such incidents can be exempted from tests.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
RSS