Tearful Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and Falun Gong practitioners yesterday called on the government to lend a helping hand to Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner Chung Ting-pang (鍾鼎邦), who was taken away by law enforcement agents in China on Monday to “assist in an investigation of Falun Gong activities” and has not been heard from since.
A Mainlander, Chung frequently travels to his father’s hometown in Yongkang City, Jiangxi Province, to visit his father’s relatives, even after his father passed away 15 years ago.
However, when he was about to leave the country after his most recent visit, he was taken away by Chinese authorities at the airport in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, his wife said.
“His relatives drove him to the airport and watched as he walked into the restricted area, but he didn’t arrive at the airport in Taiwan,” Chung’s wife, surnamed Lee (李), told a press conference at the legislature. “We contacted his relatives in China immediately; they went to check and told us that he was taken away from the airport to ‘assist in an investigation of Falun Gong activities.’”
“It’s the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow [Saturday], a day for family reunions, but I will have to ‘celebrate’ it without my husband, my daughter without her father, and my mother-in-law without her son,” a tearful Lee said.
Chung’s mother, surnamed Lai (賴), called on the government to help her son, especially since it says that cross-strait relations are the best they have been in decades.
“My son is a good man, he treats me well and looks after his father’s relatives in China, even 15 years after my husband’s death,” Lai said. “Falun Gong is his religious belief. It’s a religion that teaches truth, compassion and tolerance — my son’s personal religious beliefs should not be the reason for his arrest.”
Lee said the family has sought help from the Straits Exchange Foundation, but the only reply they have received is that the foundation would notify its counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and then wait for its reply before taking any action.
“I want the government to be more proactive,” she added.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) urged the Chinese government to respect everyone’s right to freedom of religion and unconditionally release Chung. Cheng also called on the Taiwanese government to insist on clauses to protect the rights of Taiwanese in China in any future agreements that Taipei signs with Beijing.
“Everyone in Taiwan is now waiting to see if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — who vowed to make Taiwan a human rights-based country — can help a fellow countryman come home for the Dragon Boat Festival through all means and all channels necessary,” said attorney Teresa Chu (朱婉琪), spokesperson for the Falun Gong Human Rights Lawyers Working Group.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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