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.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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