More than 200 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters yesterday protested outside the office of Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, angered by his Facebook post about the late Kaohsiung City Council speaker Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源).
Protesters outside Wang’s office in Jhongli District (中壢) said the post made light of Hsu’s death on Saturday night, hours after the recall election of Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
“Staunchly support Han Kuo-yu! Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Hsu Kun-yuan has died after falling from a building,” Wang wrote.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) has also come under fire for a Facebook post on Saturday asking if Hsu’s death was linked to gambling debts. Liang deleted the post and issued an apology later that night.
KMT Taoyuan City Councilor Chan Chiang-tsun (詹江村) and former KMT legislator Wu Yu-jen (吳育仁) yesterday called on supporters to protest in front of Wang’s office.
Wang had made similar remarks in the past, which showed he was unfit to hold office, Chan said, citing a post about a protester against pension reforms who fell from a building and died in 2018, and a post after former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) died in March.
Wang’s office closed for the day, and at about noon the Jhongli Police Precinct erected barricades in front of the office, restricted traffic on the road in front of it to one direction and deployed a large number of officers at the site as a precautionary measure.
More than 200 people showed up to protest. After reading condolences for Hsu, some of them began yelling insults at Wang’s office, calling for his recall and throwing eggs at the building.
The crowd became agitated after Wu and two others were taken away by police for contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
Separately, about 50 members of the Blue Sky Action Alliance, the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association and other groups protested outside Liang’s office in Taipei’s Datong District (大同), calling for his recall.
Liang’s office, which was closed, issued a statement saying Liang respected the protesters’ views and asked for them to remain calm.
In other developments, Han led Kaohsiung City Government officials in paying respects to Hsu at a funeral hall in the city, where he recited chants from Buddhism’s Heart Sutra (心經) for an hour.
New Power Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) also visited the funeral home to pay respects to Hsu, but was criticized by Wu Chiu-li (吳秋麗), an official in Kaohsiung’s Legal Affairs Department, for wearing red lipstick to the wake and not wearing a mask while inside.
Additional reporting by Chen Wen-chan and Kuo An-chia
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
RSS