The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday.
A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother.
Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would soon file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of the incident, Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) of the DPP told a news conference in Taipei.
Ko had said that as mayor he lacked the legal authority to suspend the accused teacher without an indictment being filed, but the Ministry of Education in 2020 had ordered local governments to handle such incidents by initiating proceedings under a gender equality board, Chien said.
Then-deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) had said that she had left the city government by the time the Taipei Education Department had received sexual abuse complaints, but Chien said Huang did not leave office until a month after the first reports of abuse in July 2022.
Chiang failed to act on the amendments to the act governing preschool educators that went into effect in March last year, which would have given him a mandate to suspend a teacher being investigated for sexual misconduct against children, she said.
The Taipei City Government’s inadequate response to the reports meant that the suspect had the opportunity to abuse many more children before he was charged, she said.
The suspect’s mother — who two months ago opened a new kindergarten in the name of another person — allegedly hired her son knowing he had no certifications, DPP Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) said.
Chiang must correct the city government’s mistakes as soon as possible, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said the DPP was using the incident to smear Chiang.
KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said then-mayor Ko conducted an administrative investigation that reviewed security footage and did not find evidence of wrongdoing.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in June last year dismissed criminal charges against the suspect due to insufficient evidence, but reopened the case the following month, she said.
Upon being notified, the Taipei City Government immediately relaunched administrative proceedings against the suspect and the preschool owner to impose a lifetime ban for educational work and a NT$600,000 fine on each of them, Wang said.
Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) of the KMT said that education officials worked hard to review six months’ worth of footage in five days and should not be blamed.
Separately, Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Protective Services Director-General Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) yesterday said the media was not prevented from identifying the suspect or the name of the kindergarten they worked for.
Child welfare laws stipulate that the media cannot reveal information about underage victims of sex crimes or child abuse that can potentially be used to identify them, including their image, voice recording or the identity of family members who have been accused, she said.
While the press cannot name the school a victim attended to protect their privacy, the ban does not include kindergartens, which are not recognized as educational institutions, Chang said.
The ministry is considering a bill to provide clarity on the issue, she 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 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
RSS