A liberal political pressure group yesterday condemned a violent attack on Saturday that left one of its top members injured.
Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, was attacked by a man thought to be in his sixties, who Chin said may have be a military veteran, while on his way home with his wife last Saturday afternoon.
The Taipei Society, a group founded by liberal academics, yesterday issued a statement condemning the attack, saying that the incident constituted an ethnic clash and undermined freedom of speech.
The ugly assault occurred in southeastern Taipei's Ta-an District, a neighborhood housing a large number of elderly military veterans.
"We appeal to society to unite to protect the freedom of speech and every single individual's personal security. Any ethnic clash that could damage democracy should be prohibited," the statement said.
Chin reported the case to the police on Monday, after developing a headache. He said the attack lasted between five and 10 minutes, during which he was kicked and punched, and ended when passersby separated Chin and his attacker.
Chin said that he had decided not to file a lawsuit against his assailant, who he said had called him "a disgrace to mainlanders" and "supporter of Taiwan independence" during the attack.
The statement also said that the term "mainlander" should not be used as a label for any ethnic group in this country, which, it said, would only widen any gaps between different ethnic groups and result in more clashes between them.
Chin, whose ancestors came from Zheijiang Province in China, has been one of the few mainlanders to publicly support Taiwan independence, through his column in the Taiwan Daily and his appearance on TV call-in shows. He is also a Taipei Times columnist.
In a interview with reporters, Chin said, "Violence is never the right way to solve problems. Using violence will make this minority themselves look bad."
Chin said that he will continue to insist on his personal freedom of speech and will never compromise in the face of violence.
"I don't know what exactly the government can do, but the government has the responsibility to provide the basic human right of free speech," Chin said.
Chang Mau-kuei (
The DPP also issued a statement condemning the violence yesterday afternoon, describing violence against free speech as an attack on democracy.
"Freedom of speech is crucial to the cultivation of democracy," the DPP's statement said
All opinions should be respected," it said.
"We hope that this incident involving Chin Heng-wei will be the last," it said.
As Chin pointed out, this is not the first time that attempts have been made to intimidate him.
He has also received threats by telephone and mail.
At the same time as one of the postal threats in July 2001, his apartment was splattered with eggs.
The sender of the message was infuriated with Chin for "selling out."
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS