The Taiwan High Court found news weekly Yazhou Zhoukan (
The decision yesterday ends a legal dispute that started in October 1996. That month, the magazine reported that Liu Tai-ying (
Liu, who denied offering or paying the money, then filed a libel suit against the magazine's general manager, senior editor and contributing reporter.
At the time, the case was seen as a first, as freedom of the press was rarely challenged via legal means.
The Taiwan High Court, affirming a district court decision in 1997, determined yesterday that the magazine had published the story in good faith. Specifically, the court said, the story had benefitted the public interest, as it said political donations were an issue that should be subject to public debate.
The court said the magazine had not had any malicious intention to defame Liu by publishing the story and it had made adequate efforts to verify the story during the process of news gathering.
The story, headlined "Taiwan engulfed in US scandal of political funds," alleged Liu had offered the donation to Middleton during the 1995 meeting in order to establish an unofficial channel of diplomacy between Taipei and Washington.
Later Chen Chao-ping (
The court said the magazine had interviewed Liu and Middleton and included their denials in the story. Regardless of what the truth was on the donation allegations, the court said, the magazine was not guilty as it had fulfilled its duty to verify facts.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
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
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
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