The Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) is not stringent enough to deter people from aiding foreign forces attempting to infiltrate Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said yesterday as he proposed an amendment to better safeguard national security.
As the act focuses on offenses during an election or when large crowds gather, but not individual attacks, some Taiwanese accomplices of foreign forces can only be held accountable under the Criminal Code, which does not stipulate adequate punishment to deter infiltration efforts, Kuo told a news conference in Taipei, citing cases in which Taiwanese allegedly operating at the behest of Beijing attacked Hong Kongers in Taiwan.
Democracy advocate Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) was attacked in 2017, while red paint was thrown on singer Denise Ho (何韻詩) and former Hong Kong Causeway Bay Books manager Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) last year and last month respectively, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The recurrence of violent acts in the nation show that the legal consequences for such behavior are too lenient, putting people’s personal safety at risk, he added.
Article 6 of the act — which lists the types of crimes subject to increased penalties when committed under the influence of infiltration sources — should be amended to include the parts of the Criminal Code covering murder, intimidation and harming others, as well as cybersecurity offenses, Kuo said.
Lam, who also attended the news conference, said that “unfortunately, the act is not complete,” which is why those who attacked him, Wong and Ho were released shortly after their crimes on human rights grounds.
“How about the human rights of the people who were attacked?” Lam asked.
Hong Kong Outlanders spokesman Kuma Yung said that the attacks remind people that they cannot assume that they are completely safe just because they are in Taiwan.
Although the attacks targeted public figures, it does not mean that members of the general public are not exposed to threats and the infringement of their human rights by foreign forces, Yung said.
Passage of the amendment would truly enhance the security and rights of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists when they visit Taiwan, Kuo said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS