Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the National Security Bureau (NSB) of monitoring hundreds of students, academics and activists involved in protests over land expropriation in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County.
“[The monitoring] is a modern-day White Terror. We ask the national security agencies to immediately stop such monitoring,” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference.
Chen said the watch list included film directors Yang Ya-che (楊雅吉吉), Leon Dai (戴立忍) and Ko I-cheng (柯一正), university student group leaders Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and several professors, including Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮), Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全) and Frida Tsai (蔡培慧).
Photo: CNA
The people on the watch list were either being wiretapped, spied upon or investigated by police or bureau investigators, and anyone on the list who shows up at events attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) or Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) would be closely watched and removed, if necessary, Chen said.
The NSB has “instructed” the military, the military police, the police, prosecutors, the Ministry of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation and the Ministry of Education to gather information about people who were active in the protests, the lawmaker said.
However, on Monday, the National Police Agency denied the accusation by Lala Lin (林羿含), a singer who performed at an Aug. 16 rally in Miaoli, that she had been put on a watch list and police officers had visited her home in Greater Tainan.
DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said the NSB’s actions have violated the public’s freedom of speech and right to assembly. Students should not be placed on a watch list just for attending protests, Wu said.
The NSB issued a press release yesterday denying the accusations. The statement said the bureau was in charge of intelligence gathering and the planning and execution of special tasks.
“The bureau does not engage in those practices that go beyond its authorization,” it said.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
RSS