Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday launched a nationwide crackdown on organized crime and corruption following a deadly shooting in Tainan.
Tainan City Fishermen’s Association chairman Lin Shih-chien (林士傑) was shot and killed in front of his residence in the city on Monday morning.
Police reviewed footage from surveillance cameras showing what appears to be a male gunman ambushing Lin and shooting him several times at close range.
Photo: CNA
Before his death, Lin was accused of intimidating Tainan City Councilor Fang I-fong (方一峰), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), to get Fang to vote for Democratic Progressive Party-nominated Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉) during the city council’s election for president and vice president in 2022.
Lin was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Tainan District Court in April, but prosecutors appealed the verdict.
The High Court postponed yesterday’s hearing about the appeal to Saturday.
“The government has two main initiatives: economic development and maintaining security. Both proceed simultaneously,” Cho told lawmakers in a plenary session yesterday.
“On June 25, we launched an anti-corruption initiative and a crackdown on organized criminal groups intervening in green energy projects in southern Taiwan,” he said. “We will subsequently implement similar initiatives nationwide to show the government’s determination to address the issue.”
Cho told reporters on the sidelines of the session that thanks to the previous initiatives, major progress had been made cracking down on corruption among government officials.
One of the examples was a case involving Yunlin County Council Speaker Huang Kai (黃凱), who was detained last week on suspicion of accepting bribes totaling millions of New Taiwan dollars from photovoltaic service operators, he said.
“I have heard security briefings from the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, National Police Agency and Criminal Investigation Bureau. I have asked officials in these agencies to engage in a more forceful search for suspects and to crack down on crimes,” Cho said.
The government has listed Lin’s murder as an urgent issue, and government agencies would report to the public as soon as there is major progress in the case, he said.
Cho asked for legislature’s support in passing four bills that would enable the government to better tackle scams: the fraud prevention draft act and technology investigation and protection draft act, and amendments to the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) and Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法).
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as