Former Associated Press (AP) reporter Tina Chou (周清月), who did not attend the human rights conference held by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy last week, described her conflict with the KMT government during the Martial Law period with a paper presented at the conference.
Chou ran into trouble when she used the word "autopsy" when reporting the case of Chen Wen-chen's (
Chen was a political dissident who returned from the US in May 1981 to visit his family, but he was found dead on the National Taiwan University campus two months later.
There was wild speculation about Chen's death, and some suspected that his death was not natural and politically motivated.
Two US experts came to examine Chen's body and performed an autopsy, but the government denied this and after publication of Chou's story, the Government Information Office (GIO) revoked her press credentials on the basis that she wrote a "fabricated" report.
"It didn't make a difference at all that Prof. De Groot and Dr. Wecht announced their finding that Chen Wen-chen was a victim of homicide, suffering a severe beating prior to his death," Chou wrote.
Later the government and AP came to a compromise, and Chou was allowed to resume her career in 1982. She relocated to India in 1983.
"In 1986, after obtaining the GIO's consent, the AP transferred me back to Taiwan to head the Taipei bureau. On my first day at work I received word from the GIO, informing me that I would not be allowed to work as a journalist because I had never been reinstated," Chou said in the paper. "Thoroughly dismayed and frustrated, I left Taiwan for good."
Chou originally accepted the invitation to come back and tell her story in person at the conference, but pulled out in the end.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS