Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday reiterated a warning to late-night entertainment proprietors and local police to better combat street fighting after a spate of violence in the past few weeks.
Heeding the premier’s demand, police in major cities have over the past few days increased patrols and checks at nightclubs, hostess bars and karaoke parlors.
Police need to crack down on public rowdiness in areas with “special entertainment businesses,” as such occurrences have negatively affected people’s perception of public safety, Su said.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
“To make these places safe, police must ensure that illegal drugs are not sold, and that there are no stabbings or violence. If more public violence occurs, then the local police chief will have to go,” Su told a Cabinet-level public security meeting on Wednesday.
“Nightclub proprietors and police chiefs understand what I said earlier. People must not underestimate my resolve and our government’s ability to handle the problem,” Su said yesterday, while also asking police to put more effort into curtailing drunk driving.
Mass brawls broke out on two consecutive nights last week in Taichung, while a number of knifing and fighting incidents in Kaohsiung and the Taipei area have been reported this week.
In raids over the past few days, 19 foreign women allegedly working as prostitutes — 13 from Thailand, five from China and one from Vietnam — were arrested, along with nine Taiwanese clients, National Police Agency officials said yesterday.
Police also detained two alleged leaders of sex trade operations that hired the women and arranged for their transport to a number of Taipei hotels, they added.
Officials said they are still searching for a man surnamed Chang (張), who allegedly has connections with international human trafficking rings and brought foreign women into the country to work in the sex industry.
Meanwhile, Taichung nightclub X-Cube, the site of one of last week’s mass street brawls, announced a temporary shutdown following a police raid.
It has been accused by police of offenses against sexual morality by hiring scantily clad female dancers to interact with male patrons.
Kaohsiung police yesterday morning also conducted sweeps of dance halls and nightclubs.
To publicize their efforts, media were permitted to film officers checking IDs on scantily clad female dancers.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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