Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that she believes in the impartiality of the justice system, a day after being identified as a suspect in a corruption investigation.
“I have the support from Yilan residents, and we are all working hard,” she told reporters at an agriculture fair in the county’s Sansing Township (三星), after she was asked how the probe was affecting her. “I believe the justice system is impartial, so we will continue to do our jobs.”
The Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday listed Lin among a group of officials being investigated about urban renewal and property development projects in the county that have been linked to financial irregularities and suspected illegal activities.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
Lin and Luodong Township (羅東) Mayor Wu Chiu-ling (吳秋齡) were released on Friday after questioning, following searches and after receiving summonses the day before, while two county government officials were detained and others were released on bail.
Yilan County Councilor Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇), convener of the council’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, said that the investigation was the largest in the county’s history, with investigators searching more than 30 locations, including county government offices and private residences.
“Yilan County residents feel shame over what has taken place,” he said. “It seems that it is not just a simple case, so we ask the commissioner to explain the allegations.”
People want to know what has gone on under the three years of Lin’s administration, he said.
Yilan County Councilor Lin Li (林麗) of the DPP said that many residents have lost their trust in the commissioner.
DPP spokesman Chou Chiang-chieh (周江杰) said that as the party respects the judicial system’s independence, it would not comment on the case.
“However, KMT officials have falsely accused the DPP of political persecution. This shows that KMT officials are the ones using politics to interfere in the justice system,” he said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said that the DPP was “going after” elected representatives of the KMT.
After attacking the family of KMT Taichung by-election candidate Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) during a campaign that ended with his defeat on Sunday last week, “we now see they have targeted those in eastern Taiwan,” Chu said.
“The KMT respects the justice system, which cannot be used for political persecution,” he said.
KMT members “will rally together as one, and we will gather up the strongest legal defense team to fight this case,” he added.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS