Five members of the Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP) were yesterday indicted for allegedly attacking and injuring several university students during protests at a music festival in September.
The “Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival,” a result of memorandums of understanding on cultural and arts events signed by Taipei and Shanghai in 2010 and 2014 respectively, was scheduled to run eight hours on Sept. 24 at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) athletic field in Taipei, but was canceled after two hours due to protests by students, who said the school failed to prioritize their right to use campus facilities.
Following the cancelation, three students were allegedly assaulted by CUPP members.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted the five CUPP members on charges including assault resulting in injury, uttering threats and destruction of personal property.
The five included Chang Wei (張瑋), the second son of CUPP founder Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” a former leader of the Bamboo Union gang who is known for supporting Taiwan’s unification with China.
The other four are Hu Ta-kang (胡大剛), Yang Shao-jui (楊紹瑞), Wang Shao-bin (王啟鑌) and Lin Shao-tse (林紹哲), who allegedly used metal rods to attack the students and protesters outside the music festival.
Prosecutors also indicted one protester, Lee Po-chang (李柏璋), who allegedly argued and fought with the CUPP members, causing facial injuries to Yang and breaking a pair of eyeglasses.
Lee, who is known for his outspoken pro-Taiwan independence views, has been nicknamed the “Machine Gun of Taiwanese Independence.”
Among the most severe casualties from the incident was NTU student Chang Keng-wei (張耿維), who was struck on the back of the head.
Investigators said that a video filmed by a bystander showed Hu approaching Chang Keng-wei from behind and striking him several times on the head and other parts of his body with a collapsible metal rod.
They added that the video showed Hu angrily confronting Lee’s girlfriend, who was filming the attack with her smartphone, telling her: “Don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll hit you as well.”
Investigators said the video also shows Chang Wei apparently directing the attack by pointing with his hands and shouting instructions to CUPP members when they confronted the protesters outside the NTU campus.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS