Two leading student representatives of the Occupy Legislature Movement received a police guard on their way to address a mass sit-in Taipei yesterday.
Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), a National Taiwan University graduate student and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a graduate student at National Tsing Hua University, were guarded by plainclothes police when they took part in the rally in front of the Presidential Office Building in protest against a cross-strait service trade agreement with China, the Taipei City Police Department told a press briefing yesterday.
The department had received information, without specific details, that some people intended to harm Chen and Lin, who have become the faces of the student protesters whom have occupied the Legislative Yuan since March 18 in protest against the government’s handling of the service trade deal signed with China in June last year.
Later yesterday, when a car was taking Chen from the legislature to the protest on Ketagalan Boulevard, an elderly man threw a painting frame at the car.
The man left the scene quickly and police were investigating the incident.
Chen and Lin have not received threatening cellphone text massage. However, some other student leaders have received threatening text messages that read: “Don’t make trouble anymore, or there will be bloodshed” and “Have them [Lin and Chen] be careful, or there will be bloodshed,” Chen said.
Chen said students who received the text message have reported it to police.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
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RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking