A group of academics launched a signature campaign yesterday urging the Legislative Yuan to amend new legislation that they say infringes on their right to participate in political activities.
“Although it is necessary to regulate the political activities of public officials in a democracy, we believe the legislation is inappropriate as it deprives the right of numerous public servants and teachers to voice their opinions on politics,” Wu Nai-teh (吳乃德), a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Academia Sinica, told a press conference.
Wu was referring to the Act Governing the Administrative Impartiality of Public Officials (公務人員行政中立法).
The Act prohibits academics from wearing or displaying flags or emblems of any political parties or groups at teachers’ or researchers’ offices. It also prohibits academics from convening demonstrations, launching signature bids and the editing, printing or distribution of political flyers or related documents using public equipment at public offices. The Examination Yuan and the Executive Yuan are also authorized to impose more bans through administrative orders.
Meanwhile, the legislature also passed a resolution requiring that the Ministry of Education submit a bill regulating the impartiality of all teachers to the legislature by September.
The academics yesterday panned the legislature for subjecting public school teachers who double as school administrators and researchers at public research institutes to the ban stipulated in the Act.
Wu Rwei-ren (吳叡人), an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan History at Academia Sinica, described the Act as “ridiculous” and suggested the government immediately “discipline” him as he could have violated the act by co-initiating the signature campaign.
“I bought a T-shirt from a friend recently that bears the slogan: ‘Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese people (台灣是台灣人的台灣).’ I could be charged with violation of the Act if I wear the shirt at my research office because the slogan is clearly pro-independence,” he said. “I could also be seen as breaking the law by displaying the Tibetan flag at my office to mark the Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10 every year.”
Yen Chueh-an (顏厥安), a law professor at National Taiwan University, said the inclusion of researchers at public research facilities in the Act could be unconstitutional as Article 11 of the Constitution protects their freedom of speech and research.
In response, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) questioned why the academics failed to voice their opposition to the Act when legislators were negotiating its content.
The ministry’s Department of Personnel also issued a statement later yesterday, saying that it would propose “the least stringent” regulations on teacher impartiality after deliberating over related regulations in “advanced nations.”
The regulations will not affect teacher working methods or infringe upon teachers’ freedom of speech or freedom to decide on teaching materials, the department said.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
INTERCEPTION: The 30km test ceiling shows that the CSIST is capable of producing missiles that could stop inbound missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere Recent missile tests by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) show that Taiwan’s missiles are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere and pose a significant deterrent to Chinese missile threats, former Hsiung Feng III missile development project chief engineer Chang Cheng (張誠) said yesterday. The military-affiliated institute has been conducting missile tests, believed to be related to Project Chiang Kung (強弓) at Pingtung County’s Jiupeng Military Base, with many tests deviating from past practices of setting restriction zones at “unlimited” and instead clearly stating a 30.48km range, Chang said. “Unlimited” restrictions zones for missile tests is
RSS