Detained Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) was hospitalized last night as her hunger strike entered its third day, while prosecutors in charge of her corruption case implied she could be released as soon as the indictment is complete.
Su, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was detained on Tuesday over her alleged involvement in corruption connected to the construction of a landfill project. Prosecutors allege that she accepted a NT$5 million (US$150,000) bribe from a construction company in return for ensuring that the project passed the environmental impact assessment quickly so that construction could be completed earlier than scheduled.
Officials at Yunlin No. 2 Prison’s Detention House said that Su began her hunger strike soon after she was escorted to her cell.
Twenty-four hours after being detained, the Yunlin District Court offered to released her on NT$6 million bail, but Su turned that down and insisted on her innocence.
She told the judges: “I do not have that kind of money.”
Su’s supporters have continued to protest outside the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office. Yunlin branch members of the DPP and Su’s supporters claim that the commissioner is innocent and have said her detention is the result of “political persecution,” an allegation rebutted by Yunlin District Chief Prosecutor Liu Chia-fang (劉家芳).
“I do not belong to any political party. I am just a prosecutor who has been doing his job for many decades,” Liu said.
Liu said that he was very upset by those who have accused him of “being a Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] tool being used to oppress the DPP.”
“Prosecutors do not accuse people for no reason. We are currently working on the indictment and it will be completed in the near future,” Liu said.
Liu said that he personally recognized and respected what Su had done for Yunlin County and added that his colleagues had tried their best to allow Su to retain her dignity.
“We decided to detain her at home in the early morning because that way we could avoid being mobbed by the media,” Liu said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS