Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) was sentenced to 30 days in jail yesterday for “slapping” Chinese Nationality Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) in the face during a cross-strait negotiation briefing to the legislature on April 22 last year.
The Taiwan High Court said Chiu had insulted Lee by “slapping” his face in public at the legislature.
However, Chiu can pay a NT$30,000 fine instead of serving time in jail. The sentence is final.
Lee filed suit against Chiu accusing her of “insulting” him during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee meeting.
The committee had invited Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) to brief it ahead of the third round of cross-strait talks.
Legislators scuffled when Lee said that instead of criticizing Chiang for failing to show up, the DPP should have condemned the heads of the SEF under the DPP administration for failing to report to the committee. Lee and Chiu got into a shouting match after Lee asked Chiu not to interrupt him and “show some manners.”
Chiu later “slapped” Lee in the face after he challenged her to hit him and called her a “shrew.”
The Taipei District Court found Chiu guilty in the first trial, fining her NT$10,000, which could be converted to a work sentence.
She appealed, denying she had intended to insult Lee in public. She said she had simply “gently touched” Lee’s face because he had called her a shrew.
Chiu yesterday said she would rather serve the 30-day sentence than pay a fine, adding that the judicial system was unreasonable.
Although she had yet to see the official ruling, she said she would not appeal.
“Our legal system is dead. I would rather be locked up to show how ridiculous and laughable this court ruling is,” she said.
She said it was unfair that Lee was acquitted of insulting her by saying she “lacked manners.”
“It was an insult and women should not have to put up with being subject to this by men. I acted properly to defend myself,” she said. “Do women deserve to be bullied by men?”
Lee said in a text message to reporters that he hoped Chiu would refrain from “hitting other people or giving others the finger” in future.
He told reporters later yesterday that he hoped Chiu would keep her promise to go to jail instead of paying a fine.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
RSS