Former minister of justice and children’s rights advocate Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) passed away on Saturday night, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said yesterday.
She did not disclose the cause of death, citing privacy reasons. Luo, 69, was minister of justice from September 2013 to May 2016 in the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Before leading the ministry, she served as a presidential adviser and minister without portfolio.
Until her passing, Luo was chairwoman of the Child Welfare League Foundation.
Her advocacy for children dates back to the 1990s, when she campaigned for legal amendments to better protect children’s rights.
While heading the ministry, Luo was reluctant to approve executions, because, as a Buddhist, she said she was in favor of abolishing capital punishment. However, she signed execution orders for 12 death row inmates, including Cheng Chieh (鄭捷), who killed four people and injured 22 on a Taipei MRT train in 2014.
Luo was the first justice minister to be invited to China, which she visited in March 2016.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
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