Changhua County prosecutors on Tuesday said they would appeal a decision by the Changhua District Court to acquit two people accused of offering a free trip to China to 18 people in exchange for their agreement to vote for a candidate favored by Beijing in January’s presidential election.
The court cited a lack of evidence to back up the claims in the indictment in its decision on Wednesday last week.
Prosecutors accused a Taiwanese businessman surnamed Cheng (鄭) of collaborating with a Hemei Township (和美) official surnamed Tsai (蔡) to organize the trip to Dongguan in China’s Guangdong Province from Nov. 18 to Nov 23 last year.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Cheng provided NT$360,000 to pay for the trip after being tasked and financed by a Chinese official surnamed Huang (黃) to lure Taiwanese to China, prosecutors said.
Cheng messaged the people who went on the trip, asking them to promise to vote for a specific candidate, prosecutors said, adding that they all replied that they would.
During a meal in Huangjiang with Chinese officials in attendance, Cheng asked the tour group members to publicly show their backing for the candidate, prosecutors said.
Cheng and Tsai were charged with contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) for allegedly buying votes for a presidential candidate. Both men denied any wrongdoing.
Cheng told the court that the trip was to court potential investors in China, which was why all of the travel expenses were paid.
There was no political motivation, he said.
Most of the tour group members said Cheng never instructed them how to vote in the presidential election.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS