The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) welcomed yesterday a US court's decision to turn down fugitive Chen Yu-hao's (陳由豪) lawsuit against the country's representative office in Los Angeles, based on the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
The US District Court of the Central District of California rejected the former Tuntex Group chairman's accusation against the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (TECO-Los Angeles) on Monday.
Maxwell Lin (
The US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act grants foreign states immunity from jurisdiction except under listed exceptions.
According to ministry spokesman Michel Lu (
The court, said Lin, therefore decided TECO-Los Angeles does not fall under US jurisdiction because it is Taiwan's representative office in the US.
"TECO-Los Angeles won a just ruling," he said.
Lu said that the ruling also mentioned the Taiwan Relations Act as the US government's commitment to maintain formal relations with Taiwan and to continue bilateral trade and cultural exchanges.
The tycoon-turned-fugitive Chen filed a lawsuit against TECO-Los Angeles shortly before Taiwan's presidential election in March, Lin said.
Chen, who claimed he presented a NT$3 million donation to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) wife Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍), filed the lawsuit against TECO-Los Angeles as it represents the Taiwanese government in the US.
In his lawsuit, Chen Yu-hao accused the Taiwanese government of political oppression and demanded that the US court order the Taiwanese government to remove him from its fugitive list.
According to US law, Chen Yu-hao will not be able to file the lawsuit against TECO-Los Angeles based on the same facts, Lin said.
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
"In fact, the US has already recognized our independence of jurisdiction since we have signed a judicial agreement with the US Department of Justice two years ago. And the recognition of the independence of jurisdiction equals the recognition of the independence of the government," Chen Ding-nan said during a press conference at the ministry yesterday.
The agreement mentioned by Chen Ding-nan is the "Agreement on Criminal Justice Cooperation."
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS