Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) yesterday said he has proposed a bill that would amend four national security laws to include provisions to establish dedicated legal procedures and courts to deal with Chinese espionage and other national security cases.
The proposal has been sent to the Legislative Yuan for discussion and review.
Lo proposed amendments to the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) and the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) in light of lenient punishments meted out for Chinese espionage activities in Taiwan, he said, adding that the amendments seek to set up a dedicated court for judges to deal with criminal cases related to activities directed against national security.
Judges would need to undergo a certain number of hours per year of specialized training or on-the-job mentoring — which would be designed by the Judicial Yuan — before being granted a professional certificate that would allow them to sit on the special court.
Over the past few years, there have been many national security cases, but most have resulted in offenders receiving lenient punishments, Lo added.
Out of 141 people charged with contravening Taiwan’s national security laws between 2015 and August last year, 137 people were found guilty, but only 19 of them were sentenced to more than six months in prison, data compiled by the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office showed.
The rest were sentenced to less than six months in jail or received punishments that were commutable to fines, the data showed.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS