Two county commissioner candidates affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Miaoli County have each demanded that the other withdraw from the race, after a decades-old murder conviction came to light, and a poll indicated that the two are creating an opening for their Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival.
Candidate Hsieh Fu-hung (謝福弘) told a news conference on Thursday that Chung Tung-chin (鍾東錦) should withdraw from the race after trying to conceal a conviction for killing a man more than 30 years ago.
Hsieh said that he is the party’s legitimate candidate given that he was officially nominated by the KMT, adding that his work as chairman of the Miaoli County Farmers Irrigation Association and head of the county’s KMT chapter bolsters his credentials.
Photo courtesy of Chung Tung-chin’s campaign
Chung was elected as a Miaoli councilor in 2014, then assumed the council speaker’s office in 2018. After losing a bid for the party’s nomination this year, Chung registered independently in June.
Chung is backed by incumbent KMT Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌), who made several appearances at campaign events to rally support.
Meanwhile, Hsieh is backed by two former KMT county commissioners, Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) and Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬).
The split has benefited DPP candidate Hsu Ting-chen (徐定禎), with a poll showing all three in a close contest at just under 20 percent support. New Power Party (NPP) candidate Sung Kuo-ting (宋國鼎) trailed in a distant fourth spot.
The KMT Miaoli County chapter had earlier this week recommended expelling both Chung and Hsu for contravening party rules, although a final decision by the party’s Central Standing Committee is to be made next week.
The clash was heightened on Thursday when Hsieh presented documents provided by NPP members and other politicians showing that Chung was convicted of killing a man surnamed Hu (胡) in 1987.
By Hsieh’s account, Chung said he had only intended to injure Hu with a watermelon knife during a fight, and the killing was an accident.
“Chung has dismissed the conviction” by claiming it was an accident, “saying that he was a young man at 25 years of age,” Hsieh said.
“Chung vowed to resign as council speaker and quit the county commissioner race if someone could present evidence that he had killed a man,” Hsieh said.
“Now we have NPP members and other politicians providing archived news reports and court documents on this homicide case, in which he was sentenced to three years and eight months,” Hsieh said.
Chung’s campaign office said in a statement that former county commissioners Liu and Fu had spent public money wastefully and that they are backing Hsieh after colluding with other parties.
Sung and other NPP members on Monday presented news reports and court documents from 1987, which showed that Chung, at the time named Chung Chao-ping (鍾朝平), was at a restaurant in Taipei with six friends when he became involved in a dispute with Hu, who was sitting at an adjacent table.
Sung said that an investigation showed that Chung and his friends punched and kicked Hu, while Chung and others sliced Hu with a watermelon knife, resulting in severe injuries.
Hu later died at a local hospital, Sung said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and