The Legislative Yuan erupted into chaos yesterday, with legislators headbutting and choking each other before a vote was finally held to pass a resolution supporting the nation's World Health Organization observership bid.
Independent legislator Chu Hsing-yu (
Later, the feisty lawmaker took two breathalyzer tests to prove his sobriety after his sparring partner claimed he'd been drinking.
The legislative caucases originally had an understanding to pass the motion before the World Health Assembly started this year, but because of Chu's grudge against the DPP, a result of its opposition to Chu's bill to cancel bonuses for tax investigators, Chu boycotted the motion from the DPP caucus yesterday.
Cable TV stations showed Chu -- who has a reputation for unruly behavior -- approach Lai and begin bumping his shoulder against Lai's as colleagues tried to separate them.
The stocky Chu grabbed Lai by his jacket collar, tying to wrestle him down on a desk. Chu then tried to headbutt Lai and eventually jabbed him in the stomach, before lawmakers pulled them apart.
Lai said he wasn't hurt, and that he'd "smelled alcohol very clearly when he [Chu] was close."
"Legislators should take an alcohol test before meetings," he joked. "Otherwise this will influence the country no less than drunk driving affects traffic."
Chu denied he'd drunk any alcohol. He called a traffic policeman into the legislature and took two breathalyzer tests in front of the TV cameras.
"Both times it was zero," Chu said as he showed off the slips of paper with the test results.
After the fight, the motion underwent an anonymous vote, and the majority of legislators agreed to pass the motion. But Chu again demanded further negotiations.
The sitting was forced to break, and several DPP legislators tried to placate Chu.
The motion then went through another vote after the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) demanded an open vote, and it finally passed with only one vote against it. Chu voted in favor of the motion.
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
RSS