Taipei prosecutors investigating the Chu Mei-feng (
Investigators say Tsai's testimony may be crucial to the case.
According to one witness, Tsai accompanied Kuo Yu-ling (
Kuo, a "spiritual-growth" instructor and Chu's former friend, was detained by prosecutors on Wednesday.
"According to Kuo's statements, she admitted that she hired a private detective agency in Hsinchu to install the hidden camera at Chu's Tamsui apartment," Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, said yesterday.
According to Chen, Tsai and Kuo visited a private detective agency together. Kuo had asked about details concerning hidden cameras, the spokesman said.
"The detective agency's employees told us that Tsai once showed up with Kuo at the shop to ask for information about installing a hidden camera," Chen said. "At this time, he's still not on the suspect list, but we will definitely interview him when necessary."
Tsai was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Though Kuo concedes she installed a pinhole camera in Chu's apartment, she said she did so at Chu's request.
Lee Ming-yu (
"Kuo said that it is impossible for Tsai to be involved," Lee told reporters yesterday after meeting with Kuo in her prison cell.
"She said that she didn't understand why Tsai was now a suspect, as Chu was the one who asked her to install the hidden camera. Tsai had nothing to do with this."
Prosecutors and police conducted additional searches of Chu's Tamsui apartment yesterday. Investigators uncovered two hidden audio recorders and two tapes. The search was still continuing as of press time yesterday.
Investigators also found fingerprints that belong to neither Chu, Kuo, Tsai nor Tseng Chung-ming (
"Almost all of the fingerprints [found so far] belong to Chu, Tseng, Kuo and Tsai," Chen said. "But we found one set of fingerprints that doesn't belong to anyone who can be placed at the scene. Investigators are now ... trying to find out the identity of that person."
Investigators yesterday also searched the offices of Hsinchu's Cultural Affairs Bureau, where Chu served as director until August this year.
With the help of a local private-detective agency, investigators uncovered special cables attached to the computer of Tseng Huan-peng (
Tseng's office was formerly used by Chu. Investigators believe the cables at one time could have been attached to device for recording video or audio.
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’: Beijing’s constant disruption of the ‘status quo’ in the Taiwan Strait has damaged peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, MOFA said The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China’s launch of another military drill around Taiwan, saying such actions are a “unilateral provocation” that destabilizes regional peace and stability. China should immediately stop the irresponsible and provocative actions, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said, after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) yesterday announced the start of a new round of joint exercises around Taiwan by the army, navy and air force, which it said were approaching “from different directions.” Code-named “Justice Mission 2025,” the exercises would be conducted in the Taiwan Strait and in areas north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it