The Ministry of Interior today said it is to collate evidence that the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) has developed organizations and interfered in elections on behalf of China to petition for its formal disbanding.
The party has engaged in organized activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that have infringed on people’s rights and endangered Taiwan’s free and democratic order, the ministry said in a news release.
It accused the CUPP of a range of crimes, including contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
Photo: CNA
The ministry found eight cases involving 11 people, although from 2010 to this year, various police agencies have found as many as 134 members suspected to have breached the Criminal Code, Social Order Maintenance Act (涉違反刑法) and Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制), with illegal activities ranging from obstruction of justice to human trafficking and homicide, the ministry said.
The comments come only two days after prosecutors brought charges against CUPP members Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷) for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.3 million) from the CCP to make propaganda promoting its political agenda and influencing Taiwan’s elections.
Although it is legal to form political parties, they should abide by the Constitution and conform to democratic principles, the ministry said, adding that the CUPP’s alleged crimes jeopardize national security, social order and elections’ fairness.
If a party’s purpose or conduct undermines the nation or its free and democratic order, then it is unconstitutional and authorities may request the Constitutional Court to dissolve the party, the ministry said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS