The Taiwan Association of University Professors (
The group yesterday also urged the public not to support the 13 lawmakers in the year-end legislative elections.
"They are so notorious for their words and deeds that they should be disqualified as legislators," Shane Lee (
Lee said some legislators were put on the list for their involvement with gangster syndicates and money politics.
Others on the list include former scholars or judges who have nonetheless performed miserably in the legislature, Lee said.
The 13 legislators include the New Party's Elmer Fung (
Fung, who was on top of the list, sarcastically said yesterday that he felt "honored to be criticized by hardline Taiwan Independence activists."
Fung was ranked by the group as the most abominable legislator of the 13.
Professors from the association yesterday said that Fung had inappropriately grilled the president's aide Ma Yong-cheng (馬永成), proposed cutting the presidential office's budget, protested the selling of the Japanese comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) and echoed China's protests by lashing out at former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) plan to visit Japan.
Chen, the legislator from the KMT, counter-attacked the association's move, saying "they should be disqualified as university professors since they have made inexplicable accusations without any reasonable evidence."
Chen, Lee Chia-chin and Hsieh Chang-chieh were singled out yesterday by the association for questioning Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
Ting was named because he had initiated the recall vote against the president, while the association said Mu and Wu had insulted Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗), and Liao and Chou had embarrassed the premier.
The association said that it would continue monitoring legislators' performance and would later come up with a list of more names, if necessary.
"If the public can boycott these poorly performing legislators' participation in politics, it may help the functioning of the legislature," said professor of history at National Taiwan University (NTU), Cheng Ching-jen (
But another association member, Li Yung-chih (李永熾), who is also professor of history at NTU, yesterday cautioned the media not to assist these legislators in stirring up legislative infighting.
Li urged the media to refuse to report some news events staged by certain legislators who to try to excuse themselves from wrongdoing.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached